A Moment in Time
by Dekardkain
Summary: An unexpected arrival brings new hope to Atlantis. But is he too late to make a difference?
1. Chapter 1

Title- A Moment in Time

Chapter- 1/?

Author- Dekardkain

Date- 10/6/09

Rating- M

Category- AU, S/W romance, action.

Archiving- Would be an honor, just ask.

Warnings- Violence/consensual sex

Disclaimers- I don't own this, no money, yadda yadda.

Summary: An unexpected arrival brings new hope to Atlantis

Chapter 1 - "Sorry, wrong number."

"You're kidding right? I mean, _please_ tell me you're kidding!" McKay stared into the suspiciously unresponsive back of his team leader for a long moment before tossing his hands up with the best long suffering grimace he could muster. "If you're not kidding I might have to seriously reconsider this friendship!"

Sheppard just fired his trademark smirk over a shoulder before returning his concentration to the task at hand. "Just when did I say we were friends McKay?"

"Oh, ha ha." Rodney knew that at this point John was just trying to get a rise out of him, but he'd be damned if it wasn't working. "It was a Zed-PM Sheppard! Where is it really going to do more good, here on Atlantis powering our shields or providing the native Ularins with an admittedly psychedelic laser light show?"

John was quiet for another few seconds before lining the club up and stepping into his swing. The ball immediately cut hard right and the Colonel exhaled sharply through clenched teeth, mumbling something about pushy scientists and their effect on his back swing. "It's not just a 'psychedelic laser light show' McKay, their entire religion is based on that shrine."

"Yes," Rodneys eye roll was so dramatic that he was pretty sure Sheppard could see it without turning around, "But it wasn't built by God, it was built by the Ancients!"

Finally deciding he wasn't going to be able to get any actual relaxing done until Rodney was mollified, John returned his driver to it's customary place in his bag and faced the scientist. "I don't care if it was built by the Kebler Elves, that doesn't give us the right to take it! Just drop it McKay!"

Smirking slightly, Rodney took comfort in the fact he at least managed to get the Colonel to address him face to face, he wanted to see the other man's expression when he fired his next salvo. "Yeah, and I'm sure this decision has absolutely nothing to do with the Ularin Priestess who so graciously offered to share her quarters with you during the visit."

"It...," John's eyebrows did that odd twitching dance that always accompanied his 'oh crap' moments, "Well... that's beside the point! There's right and wrong Rodney, and stealing falls squarely into the 'wrong' category."

"Ah, I see." The scientist tilted his head slightly to one side, "And if she'd been Genii, or Wraith for that matter?"

John visibly shivered for a moment before placing a placating hand on his friend's shoulder. "If she was Wraith, what we were doing in her quarters would have been decidedly more... icky. Besides, Elizabeth agrees with me, so if you're going to bother someone about it..."

"Right." Realizing he'd lost the argument, Rodney figured he could at least land a few parting shots before leaving the Colonel to enjoy his weekend off. "You know, Kirk would have nailed the alien priestess _and_ brought home the Zed-PM."

Sheppard snorted as he reached over to pluck his wedge from his bag, "Well, maybe I'm just slipping in my old a-."

Both mens' eyes widened as the entire city shook violently, sending them sprawling in separate directions before bouncing off the walls and landing face to face on the deck. A long moment passed as they tried to decide if the ground was done trying to beat the snot out of them when John finally broke the silence, "We under attack?"

"I don't think so," Rodney ventured as he slowly raised himself onto his hands and, apparently from the pain he was experiencing, some rather extensively bruised knees. "Felt like it was internal and I didn't hear an explosion."

John was already hauling him to his feet by the large hand clamped around his upper arm, moving seamlessly into a quick trot down the hallway with the scientist in tow. "Well, whatever it was I get the feeling they'll need you."

"Heh, what else is new?" Rodney's snark was dampened slightly by his inability to keep pace with the rather frantic looking man in front of him. They were only a few steps short of the transporter when a low electric hum seemed to echo off the walls and the hallway was plunged into complete darkness. Sheppard came to an immediate halt, causing McKay to bounce off his back like a pinball. "Ouch! I'm not going to do anyone any good with a concussion!"

John just let out a long sigh, turning around and offering a hand to help his friend off the deck for the second time in five minutes. Even in the darkness Rodney caught the slump of the soldier's shoulders and the look of annoyance accompanying it. "Did I miss something? What's wrong with you?"

Yanking the smaller man up to his feet, Sheppard shrugged. "I'm cursed McKay! Every freaking time I go on vacation the city falls apart! Six months since I've had a day off and the first hour of my much-deserved weekend we're trapped on the outer edge of Atlantis without power. Now it's just a brisk twenty-five minute sprint to the control room before we can even start trying to save the day! In fact, there's only one thing that could make this scenario any more unappealing.."

McKay could feel his own shoulders slump as the full weight of the situation was brought to bare, if there was an upside, he decided he wanted to hear it. "Yeah, what's that?"

"Well, I could be making this run in your body." John's earlier smirk was back full force, his short rant apparently enough to recharge his batteries. "Now come on, unless you want Zelenka to figure it out before we get there."

Rodney did his level best to burn a hole into the back of his commander's head with nothing but the heat of his glare, but a few minutes down the corridor he decided his energy would be better spent trying not to pass out.

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Elizabeth had no idea how long she'd been staring at the same paragraph of a botanical report from a planetary designation she was far too tired to remember right now, but she shuddered to think of the glazed zombie-like facade she was probably presenting to anyone who glanced into her office. Her third cup of coffee had grown cold nearly an hour ago but she just couldn't find it within herself to actually stand up and walk the distance required to refill it. She'd been up until 0500 Atlantis Standard debriefing Major Lorne's team after a rather dicey run-in with a rebel Genii faction that had left two of his team in the infirmary with serious though non life threatening injuries. After eight hours of catching up on paperwork, she was starting to rethink her earlier assumption that no sleep was better than only having an hour before getting back up.

A soft knock startled Dr. Weir more than she cared to admit, her tablet clattering to the desk and her head shooting up, causing a few stray hairs to drop right in front of her eyes. After blowing the offending locks out of her line of sight with a strategically placed gust of breath, she plastered on a diplomatic, if exhausted smile. "Teyla, please come in." The other woman returned her smile before approaching the desk, but when she didn't speak Elizabeth decided to start things off.

"I thought you were using your time off to visit your people? Not that we don't love your company."

Teyla's smile widened and she nodded slightly to show she took no offense, "Indeed I had. However, my customary pilot is 'working on his backswing' and while Dr. Beckett was kind enough to volunteer, I was hoping you might know of someone more..."

Elizabeth laughed softly at the look racing across the Athosian's face, "More capable? Less likely to fall out of the sky?"

"Yes." Teyla's response is half word, half relieved exhalation. "Not that the doctor isn't a fine.."

Dr. Weir cut off the younger woman's unnecessary apologies with a wave of her hand. "Teyla, it's fine. Carson is the first to admit he's no John Sheppard. I'm sure we can find someone to pilot your jumper. When were you planning on departing?"

"Thank you Doctor Weir." Teyla motioned over her shoulder to a heavily laden Ronon Dex standing silently just outside her office. "We are prepared to leave whenever it is convenient."

Just as Elizabeth retrieved her tablet to check on crew rotations, the shrill scream of a warning klaxon cut through command like a knife accompanied by the sound of the stargate engaging. "Unauthorized off-world activation!"

Dr. Weir was on her feet in a second, all signs of her earlier exhaustion erased as she joined Teyla and Ronan on the catwalk. Catching Chuck's attention with a raised hand, Elizabeth dragged a well manicured thumb across her throat and a few seconds later the alarm cuts off. "Report!"

"Ma'am, as you know we don't currently have any teams off world." Chuck frowns deeply before quickly consulting the technician next to him, whatever she was saying only caused him to look more confused. Shifting his attention back to his own screen, the man's expression shifted to one of pure terror as the readout scrolled before him. "Everyone better hold onto something!"

Rare was the day Elizabeth Weir attributed anything to providence. What most called providence was simply the result of careful planning and a talented team of dedicated professionals - but if Chuck hadn't picked that exact moment to warn them, all three people standing atop the catwalk would have suffered a severe, if not deadly, fall. As it was, Teyla, Ronon, and Elizabeth had all managed to get a death grip on the railing just before all hell broke loose.

The moment the stargate's event horizon had whooshed into existence a massive shock wave blasted outwards into the control room. The Marines who had rushed into the gate room when the alarm had activated were the first to be effected, tossed back and into the air like children's toys in a hurricane. A fraction of a second later it seemed that every console in the room exploded simultaneously, sparks, shrapnel, and viscous smoke only adding to the horrific tableau. Violet lightning danced across the deck plating in the gate room, tendrils curling outward before arcing back and wrapping themselves around the gate's ring itself. The shaking continued for a few long moments before being replaced by a steadily building electric hum.

"Is everyone alright?" Elizabeth angled a grateful smile to Ronon as he leveraged her back to her feet. Below her, command was in chaos as those who had avoided injury were either trying to help their less fortunate comrades or to put out one of the many fires the shock wave had ignited. A quick inspection showed at least four technicians were seriously hurt, and most of the Marines were either lying unconscious or writhing in pain on the gate room's deck. Activating the radio pickup in her ear, Weir flinched as her shoulder popped and protested the motion loudly. "Weir to Doctor Beckett. Carson we have a medical emergency in command, at least half a dozen seriously injured, so we need everyone you can spare."

Static was cutting across the line, but after a few moments Carson's voice finally registered over the comm., "Aye Dr. Weir. Major Lorne's men were tossed clear of their beds by the blast, we'll be down there just as soon as we can stabilize 'em."

"Acknowledged, Weir out." Elizabeth had already descended the stairs and was making her way through command when she spotted Chuck sitting on the floor, back propped against a still-smoking console and a hand clamped over an angry wound on his forehead. Kneeling next to the man she shrugged out of her jacket, gently pulling his hand away from his face and placing the folded cloth against the deep gash. "Can you keep pressure on that?"

"Yes ma'am. Thank you." Chuck offered a week smile as he replaced his hand over her jacket. "I'm sorry, once I realized what was happening it was too late to disengage the gate."

Elizabeth nodded slowly, catching sight of Teyla and Ronon from the corner of her eye, she nodded and they hurried to help the wounded. "It's alright Chuck, it wasn't your fault. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I should have known something was wrong when the connection started initializing. An incoming wormhole shouldn't have been drawing any power, let alone that much at once." The technician grimaced as the console next to him fired off another stream of iridescent sparks. "It was drawing power from all over the city, completely drained our reserves. The blast was some kind of massive displacement wave, but if you ask me the explosion was a simple electrical overload. Those circuits just weren't designed to handle that kind of current ma'am."

"We're just lucky that all our teams are currently on Atlantis, because it'll be at least a month before we can get this straightened out and frankly," The injured man motioned over his shoulder to the still electrically charged gate behind them, "I don't think it's over yet."

"Help me out here Chuck," Elizabeth nodded to the smoking console, "I thought you said all the circuits blew out? How is the gate still drawing power?"

"Maybe it only needed that much power to establish the connection." The technician shrugged his shoulders and Weir didn't miss the grimace caused by the movement. "Ma'am, for all we know it could be drawing power from the other side."

"Can we raise the shield?" At Chuck's negative, Weir glanced to the gate room, catching sight of Captain Ramero who had managed to at least get to his feet. "Captain, I need you and anyone still capable of holding a weapon on that gate. We can't raise the shield and we have no idea what might be coming through."

Turning back, the increasingly ashen pallor of the man bleeding out in front of her caused a flash of guilt to run straight to Elizabeth's stomach. Unfortunately, until Rodney or Zelenka arrived he was the only one who could answer her questions. "I need you to stay with me Chuck. Do you think it was an attack?"

Chuck shook his head slightly, "I don't believe so ma'am. Granted, if they were trying to disable us they did a pretty effective job, but I would imagine whoever's on the other side took just as much of a beating as we did. I'm not exaggerating the amount of power that's at play here. Besides, I'm no tactician, but if this was the prelude to an attack wouldn't they have come through the second we were hit?"

"I hope you're right." Weir placed a comforting hand on the man's shoulder before rising to her feet, "Stay put, help is on the way."

"Thank you ma'am," Chuck smiled drowsily, "And sorry about your coat."

"Think nothing of it." Elizabeth felt a wave of relief wash over her as Doctor Beckett came barreling through the door pulling a gurney stacked high with medical supplies behind him. A small army of medical staff fanned out to triage the wounded and begin treating the worst cases immediately. "Carson, it's good to see you, what can you report?"

Beckett shot her a tight smile as he crouched down to examine the burns on Technician Wilson's face and neck. "Not a good day Dr. Weir. I've got reports of injuries coming in from all over Atlantis." He paused momentarily to flash a pen-light into the dazed tech's eyes before continuing, "Most are relatively minor, falls and such from the blackout."

"The blackout?" Elizabeth arched an eyebrow in surprise.

"Aye, most of the city is apparently without power." Pulling a syringe from the pocket of his jacket, Carson quickly and efficiently found a vein in the curve of the young woman's arm. "You'll be just fine lass, the burns aren't that extensive. Let us give you somethin' for the pain and I'll bandage you up when things slow down a bit, alright?"

At Wilson's nod he ran an alcohol swab over her inner elbow and administered the shot. "That's a good lass, just relax and we'll have you fixed up before ya can blink."

Carson ran a practiced eye over the room, comfortable that everyone who needed attention was receiving it he turned back to Dr. Weir. "We were actually very fortunate. Just thank God sickbay was close enough to command to avoid the blackout or we coulda lost the lot of them."

As if noticing the glowing gate for the first time since his arrival, Beckett's eyebrows jumped two inches up his forehead. "Well, what do we have here?"

"Wish I could answer that Carson," Elizabeth let out a weary sigh as she started heading in Ronon's direction, "Whatever it is, it just burned out most of our electrical systems and wounded dozens of my personnel."

The massive Satedan was just finishing loading the last of the seriously injured onto a waiting stretcher when Weir approached from behind. "Ronon, if you're not too badly injured I could use you at the gate with Captain Romero."

Ronon grunted slightly as he drew his sidearm from it's holster. "A chance to welcome whoever did this? Yeah, I'm healthy enough for that."

Beckett smirked as the large man lumbered past him, but filed away the limp he noticed into the 'deal with it later' section of his mind. "What about you Doctor?"

Elizabeth was staring at the gate with a somewhat vacant expression, her hand rubbing behind her left ear absently. "Huh?"

"Did you suffer any injuries in the explosion?" Carson was just about to repeat the question when a high pitched buzz made itself known in his own left ear, growing steadily in frequency and intensity. "Does anyone else hear that?"

Catching affirmative nods from most of the personnel in ear-shot, Dr. Beckett noticed that Elizabeth was now clutching the side of her head, face contorted in pain. Ronon looked around the room, raising his weapon slightly as if the sound was an enemy he could defend them from. "Hear what? I don't hear anything!"

The Scot was lucky the pieces fell into place for him right about the time his own auditory nerves were assaulted full force, he quickly yanked the radio from his ear and was instantly relieved when the sound cut out. Pulling Dr. Weir's hand away from the side of her head as gently as he could, he removed her earpiece and tossed it to the deck. "Everyone remove your radios!"

Elizabeth smiled gratefully as she rubbed fingers over her temples slowly. "Thank you Carson, that was... unpleasant. How did you know it was the earpiece?"

"Well, Ronon seemed to be the only one unaffected by the noise." Carson shrugged, "Made sense at the time. The real question is what caused it?"

"You know.... I think _that_ might just have something to do with it!" McKay wheezed from the open doorway, still rubbing his own ear, one shaking finger leveled at the glowing gate across the room. The lightning circling the gate was growing in intensity and branching out to the surrounding bulkheads. Captain Romero layed a hand on Ronon's shoulder and both men started backing away from the increasingly volatile piece of Ancient equipment, neither ever lowering their weapons.

John tossed a nod to Elizabeth as he helped the nearly hyperventilating scientist over to a chair. "Sorry it took so long, we were on the East Pier when we lost power. What's the situation?"

"The gate activated nearly thirty minutes ago preceded by some kind of displacement wave. Before the explosion the gate was drawing massive amounts of power from all over the city and you can see the damage the buildup caused to our equipment." Weir motioned over to the still active stargate. "Rodney, are we in any kind of danger?"

All McKay could do was shoot a helpless glance at his boss and motion idly to the destroyed consoles around him. "I've got no way to access any data from here. Not that it would matter, seeing as how that explosion likely damaged the diagnostic systems along with everything else! I'll risk stating the obvious here - it does seem to be building up to something and there's no way of knowing if that something is bad or not."

Sheppard frowned from his position retrieving a P-90 dropped by one of the wounded Marines. "I doubt the people who did this are gonna send through a gift basket Rodney."

"I didn't say they would Sheppard. I'm just trying to impress upon you that something is...," Rodney cut off as bright violet light flooded through the gate room, "... very odd."

The air around them seemed to carry an electric charge, every hair on John's body stood at full attention as icy fingers raced down his spine. The sensation was so disorienting that it took him a long moment before he realized his dog-tags had somehow floated off his chest and were now hovering impossibly in front of his face. "Okay... this is definitely new."

As suddenly as it had arrived, the charge fled back towards the stargate, the lightning coalescing around the ring before swirling down the event horizon. To John it seemed oddly reminiscent of a flushing toilet, but he wasn't about to share that observation with the distinguished scientific minds surrounding him. Just as the last of the lightning trickled into the center of the stargate, a final flash of blinding light caused everyone in the room to shield their eyes, and a dazed human form stumbled forward through the gate, collapsing to it's knees as the event horizon winked out of existence.

Temporarily blinded, it took them all a few seconds to realize that the lights had returned to full power the moment the gate had disengaged, giving them a clear view of the traveler gasping for breath on the gate room floor. Ronon and Captain Romero had already leveled their weapons on the young man by the time Elizabeth started forward towards him, Sheppard at her side with his own P-90 at the ready. "Elizabeth?"

"It's alright John." Weir raised a hand to stifle his objections as she tried to identify anything of value about their new arrival. He was still hunched over, breathing heavily with wisps of smoke or steam rising up from all around him. Due to his position she couldn't make out his face, but his uniform was definitely familiar. Desert issued fatigues with a tactical vest, admittedly a little more torn up than she was used to seeing, but the Atlantis Expedition mission patch was clear on his shoulder. His hair was thick, black, and rather unkempt, though Dr. Weir wasn't sure if that was by design or a result of the ordeal he'd conceivable just gone through. It worried her to see that it was also matted with blood.

Coming to a halt roughly ten yards in front of him, Elizabeth focused on making her voice as neutral and diplomatic as possible. "Hello. Are you alright?"

Ronon looked at Weir like she'd just just lost her mind, but his focus quickly shifted back to their visitor when he sat back on his heels, a battered P-90 hanging loosely from the strap on his tac vest. Elizabeth drew a sharp breath past her teeth at the sight and wasn't surprised to hear many of the others joining her in her exclamation.

"What the hell?" John's first reaction was to flick the safety off his weapon, but he looked to Dr. Weir to decide what they should do.

"Well, he's can't be an evil twin." After noticing a few perplexed expressions, Rodney frowned, "He doesn't have a goatee!"

"I say we stun first, ask questions later." Ronon's growl finally seemed to drag the man kneeling on the gate room floor from his revere, bright green eyes coming to rest on the Satedan staring down the barrel of his gun at him.

Raising his uninjured arm as slowly as possible, the soldier's smile seemed oddly at ease for someone in his position. "Alright Chewy, who pissed in your cheerios? Don't I have enough holes in me already?"

Elizabeth motioned for the soldiers to lower their weapons, a command which everyone except Ronon obeyed. Even if the man had evil intent, Weir wagered he was far too injured to be of any immediate danger to them. Taking a knee in front of him, she ran a closer eye over the impossibly familiar face in front of her. It was... John. Well, he looked like John until you started noticing the small differences. The scar slashing through his right eyebrow, the eyes that were more green than hazel, a few less laugh lines around the eyes, a few less wrinkles on the forehead. A person who hadn't spent countless meetings staring directly at his face might not even have noticed it, but they were clear as day to Elizabeth. This wasn't _her _John. As old as his eyes appeared, there was no hiding the fact he was barely more than a boy.

She didn't even notice the hand resting on his stubbly cheek before Ronon grunted in surprise at the gesture, she had been unable to help the impulse though, he appeared to be in so much pain. Still, there was a comfort in his eyes she couldn't explain as he returned her gaze, a familiarity in the way he turned his face into her hand slightly. "I... never thought...," grimacing slightly, he forced himself to continue, "I never thought.. that I would see any of you again."

"Again?" Elizabeth's frown deepened when her fingertips encountered warm blood dripping down from his hairline. "I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are."

"How can you... you don't?" Shaking his head to clear his rapidly fading vision, the young man finally tried to take in the scene around himself beyond the woman kneeling in front of him. He was growing visibly more agitated by the second, stumbling up onto unstable legs trying to look in every direction simultaneously, "No no... this isn't right! McKay you stupid, _arrogant_, evil-genius wannabe son of a.."

"What?!" Finally having recovered from his run, Rodney was more than eager to find out why not-John was besmirching his good name. "What the hell did I have to do with this? I don't even know you! And you... _you_ blew up the gate room!"

"It was _your_ idea!" Not-John closed the short distance between them, his wounded arm clutched tightly to his side, his anger surprisingly potent considering it appeared he could barely stand upright. "It was _you_ who activated the gate! It was _you_ who shoved me through! What part of that strikes you as 'not your fault' Rodney?!"

McKay just scoffs, motioning to Elizabeth. "Definitely not an evil twin, that complaining is Sheppard charm at it's finest."

"Hey." Noticing that neither Rodney nor their new arrival seem inclined to stop arguing anytime soon John raises his voice over the tumult. "Hey! Sorry to interrupt this tearful reunion, but shouldn't we be the ones asking you questions?"

McKay sputters to a halt in his typical fashion but no one misses the way their guest froze solid the moment John's voice broke the tension. His already pallid skin skips three steps closer to 'white as a sheet' as he slowly turns to face the Colonel, his eyes wide and disbelieving.

The two lock gazes for a few seconds, John's double sputtering half-formed syllables until finally croaking out a single word. "Dad?"

Luckily, John and Elizabeth were close enough to catch the man when he pitched forward, eyes rolling back into his head. Elizabeth lowered his head to the deck as gently as possible, as Carson rushed over from the far side of the room. "John, did he just call you..."

"Yep." Sheppard's eyes however are focused on the man's dog-tags for a long second before yanking one free and handing it to Weir. Without another word he rose back to his feet and walked quickly from the room, ignoring everyone along the way.

"Should I...?" Rodney motions to the door the Colonel just stormed out of.

Elizabeth just shakes her head slowly motioning to the dog-tag in her hand. "I think he's going to need a minute."

Ronon frowns down at the unconscious man being hefted onto a gurney before glancing over his shoulder to Weir. "What does it say?"

"Captain...," Elizabeth seems to choke on the word before taking a steadying breath, "Captain John J. Sheppard."

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TBC

Thanks to everyone who's reading. I promise this isn't your average time-travel story, as I have quite a few interesting angles I want to explore with this story.

Let me know what you think, the next update should be Saturday at the latest.

- Dekardkain


	2. Chapter 2

Title- A Moment in Time  
Chapter- 2/?  
Author- Dekardkain  
Date- 10/10/09  
Rating- M  
Category- AU, S/W romance, action.  
Archiving- Would be an honor, just ask.  
Warnings- Violence/consensual sex  
Disclaimers- I don't own this, no money, yadda yadda.

Author's Note: I tend to write dialogue (especially in regards to Carson and others with heavy accents) in phonetics. If it gets distracting please let me know.

Chapter 2 - "A Mirror Darkly."

Eight hours had elapsed since the arrival of their rather unexpected guest, and luckily for most, their duties had kept them from grappling with the implications of his visit. Elizabeth stood on the catwalk leading out from her office watching the technicians bustling below as they hurried to replace the damaged consoles and route power around the circuits fried in the blast. A commotion at the edge of the gate room caught her attention, a heavily accented and rather irate, voice carrying up to her over the din of work below.

"It was not designed to work that way!" Zelenka was obviously three inches shy of the end of his rope, dragging both hands through his thinning hair in agitation, "If we try what you're proposing then... well... boom! Is 'boom' clear enough?!"

"Well, it's clearer than that string of Czech gibberish you were spewing before, but that doesn't make you right!" Rodney groaned as he collapsed into the chair behind him, waving a hand about his head idly. "When did you become such a pessimist Radek?"

The scientist actually seemed to consider the question before leaning onto the console in front of him, "The last time you assured me everything would be 'okey-dokey' an entire solar system winked out of existence."

"It wasn't the _whole_ solar system," Rodney's glare wasn't lost on anyone as he tried desperately to recover his dignity, "And I'm pretty sure I never used the words 'okey-dokey'."

"Gentlemen?" Elizabeth's voice caused both men to pause mid-rant and turn to face the woman descending the stairs into command, "What can you tell me?"

Radek frowned apologetically, "It is very not good I am afraid."

"Hey, that's your opinion. Your narrow minded and rather spectacularly uninformed opinion." Rodney consulted his tablet for a moment, taking a bite of his power bar and speaking around a mouthfull, "I'm confident we can be up and running inside the month."

"You're dreaming McKay!" Zelenka snorted, "Unless you know of a dance that will make spare Ancient crystals fall from the sky! If this is so I have wasted much of my professional life."

"Well, we can both agree that most of your life has been wasted - but my estimate is sound." Ignoring the sputtering Czech scientist, Rodney shifted his attention to the person who would actually be calling the shots. "The work will be extensive, but relatively straight-forward. Shouldn't be much harder than say... rewiring a hot tub? Well, if a hot tub was capable of overloading and vaporizing most of the city that is...," Rodney trailed off, "but, not to worry! Where did I set the rest of my lunch?"

Stepping between the two men before Radek had a chance to reignite their argument, Elizabeth smiled as placatingly as her exhaustion allowed. "I am going to check on our guest and then hopefully get a few hours of sleep. There will be a briefing at 0800 AST and I want options gentlemen. Not conjecture. Not Arguments. Just options. Alright?"

Sighing softly at their deferential nods of acceptance, Weir wasn't surprised to here their arguing resume before the door had completely closed behind her.

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The early morning light was filtering in through the stained glass windows of the Atlantis Gym, bathing the exercise mats in breathtaking sepia tones. Not that either of the two men circling each other slowly on those mats had taken notice except perhaps when a bare foot detected the slight increase in warmth caused by it's presence. They'd been sparring for more than twenty minutes yet neither of them had laid a finger on the other. Every twenty or thirty seconds one man would engage long enough to get off a few slashes or jabs with his banta sticks, but as of yet, none had managed to land.

There was no visible cue that Ronon was about to attack, the Satedan was simply _there. _Deftly slipping out of the path of his massive opponent, Captain John J. Sheppard dropped to a knee just in time to avoid a sharp impact to the skull. Letting his forward momentum carry into a roll, the young soldier was back on his feet a split second later dancing in a slow circle around the room. "You know Chewy, you didn't used to get this winded from our little sessions."

"You used to be thirteen." Ronan swung somewhere near the middle of his statement only to have his blow deflected and his target out of range before the end of it. "I think I liked you better that way."

"Come on big guy! No one likes a sore loser." Deciding that playing the defensive was only making his hands sting, Sheppard launched himself forward in a flurry of motion. To his credit, the runner deflected or parried every thrust of the younger man's banta sticks. He didn't however avoid the unanticipated elbow that caught him in the jaw mid-combo.

Ronon stumbled back a few steps rubbing his aching jaw in open admiration. "I haven't lost yet, pup."

"Hey! That's _Captain_ Pup to you bud." John snapped off a smart salute with one of his sticks before ducking under Ronon's lunge and tagging him in the back of his knees. Expecting the blow to drop the Satedan he wasn't prepared when the larger man absorbed the shot and spun away, bringing his bare foot around in a vicious arc and impacting squarely into his opponent's sternum. Before he could compensate, Sheppard's legs were shooting out from under him and he was gasping on the floor with a very pleased looking Ronon Dex smiling down at him.

"You still have a lot to learn." Letting his sticks clatter to the floor, Ronon offered his best friend's son a hand up. "_Captain_."

John returned his smirk as he allowed himself to be jerked up into a standing position. The room spun slightly, but other than that he imagined he was still in one piece.

"Yeah, well forgive me for not being old," Catching the look his friend and mentor was tossing him he decided to amend his statement, "-er. _Older._"

Ronon just smiled and smacked him on the back a little too hard. "Nice save Sheppard."

"I thought so." John mumbled sheepishly.

The scene playing out in the Captain's painkiller laden subconscious shifted rapidly to a much less pleasant memory. He found himself sprinting through what appeared to be the endless corridors of a Wraith hive ship, stun blasts splashing into the hull to his left as he ducked around another corner.

"Bates! You have a fix on our people yet?!" John positioned himself a few feet back from the lip of the tunnel, lying in wait for the first group of pursuing Wraith to round the corner. He held off just long enough for both to leave the safety of their cover before mowing them down with quick, controlled bursts. "Bates?"

"Yeah! Got 'em Cap," The former SAS man's brows knit as he paused for a moment to examine the screen of his tracker, "Two decks down!"

"Bates, you've got point. Keep a close eye on the Doc, ya hear?" Reloading his P-90 on the run John barely broke stride as he motioned for the rest of his squad to abandon their defensive positions. "Kharkov - grenade me!"

His second in command fell into step beside him on their all out sprint to locate the 'Lantian prisoners, pulling a grenade clear of the webbing on her tactical vest, Alexandra handed it off with a smile. "Give my compliments to the bloodsuckers."

"How many times do I have to tell ya Alex?" Without even having to explain his plan, both fell to a knee side by side to cover the corridor behind them. John's smile was predatory as he pulled the pin and rolled the explosive across the deck back the way they'd come. Both soldiers opened fire as the wraith came into view, causing them to pause in their pursuit long enough to find cover or return fire. Not that they had much of an opportunity to, as the grenade laying unnoticed amongst them detonated within seconds, killing or severely injuring the entire party. Slapping a hand on the Russian's back, Sheppard had already renewed their dash to the cells. "They don't suck blood!"

"My sincerest apologies Jack." Alex kept an eye on their six as they descended a ramp to the next level, her thick accent echoing off the hull "I shall endeavor to only use proper terminology in respect to life-sucking creatures from another galaxy."

"See that you do sport." Sheppard stopped mid stride as the sound of automatic weapons fire mingled with Wraith stunners echoed down the hall. "Dammit! Hunker down and cover our backside while I find out what's wrong with Bates and Dr. McMillan."

Kharkov found cover in a nearby doorway that gave her a good view of the corridor. "Don't be too long Jack," Her statement was punctuated as she chambered the first round of a fresh clip, "You know how I worry."

"Hey," John fired off his best Sheppard smirk, "It's me."

"Yes... this is _why_ I worry," Alex deadpanned.

The firefight couldn't have been more than a few hundred yards ahead, and John tried to close the distance as quickly as his battered body would allow at the moment. He was momentarily relieved when the shots petered out, but all of that vanished as he rounded the last corner to find four Wraith standing over the unconscious forms of two of his team members. Without the slightest hesitation he shouldered his P-90 and let fly on full auto, clipping the two on his left and sending them sprawling to the deck clutching at their wounds. Unfortunately he'd been so busy fighting for his life the last few minutes he hadn't thought to check his ammo reserves, figuring he could grab a clip from one of his teammates when the time came. The most dreaded sound in all of warfare met his ears as he pulled the trigger only to receive a sickly 'click' in response.

Sheppard let his weapon clatter to the deck as he ran an eye over the two Wraith standing in front of him, the others already shaking off their wounds and rising to their feet. John had a sinking suspicion that spattering them with automatic weapons fire most likely hadn't had any kind of positive effect on their disposition. Slapping on a sheepish smile, he fired off the first thing to come to mind, "So... any chance you boys feel like taking this opportunity to surrender?"

Receiving nothing but stoic silence in response, John withdrew his knife from it's customary place at the small of his back and slipped into a combat stance. "Right... so who's first?"

***************************************************************************************************************

"I am goin' ta find the butcher who did this and string him up by his danglers!" Carson was more livid than Elizabeth had seen him in a long time, thrusting an accusatory finger at the medical readout between them. "You see this discoloration on the back of his brain scan? Well, that's just a wee bit o' brain damage - the type you see in professional _boxers_! It's generally caused by repeated violent blows to the head sustained over a long period of time. This lad canna be more than twenty years old and he's got more physical trauma than Ronon!"

Dr. Weir ground her bottom lip between her teeth as she glanced over to the unconscious man a few feet away. He looked much younger to her now, though she wasn't sure if it was the fact he was sleeping or if the uniform he'd been wearing earlier had thrown off her perceptions. "Is that all you've found?"

Beckett snorted without humor, "I wish. In addition ta the projectile we had ta remove from his shoulder someone was kind enough to crack three of his ribs and they nearly split the boy's head open 'round back."

"Is he in any immediate danger?" Elizabeth gratefully accepted the doctor's offer of a chair, leaning back and rubbing her temples.

"He's appears stable for now," Carson slipped into his own chair, kicking his feet up onto a supply crate who's contents he hadn't had time to find a home for yet. "He's no stranger to this kind of treatment Dr. Weir. There's clear evidence of multiple fractures, bullet wounds, deep tissue scarring... to put it simply, the lad's a mess."

A quick glance at the clock confirmed that it indeed wasn't getting any earlier, so Elizabeth cut to the chase. "I take it you've had time to run the bloodwork?"

"Aye." Becket nodded to a closed manila folder on his desk. "You want to read it yourself?"

"No thank you doctor," Catching herself at the man's raised eyebrow, she felt the need to apologize for her brusque tone. "I don't think I could make heads or tails of that report right now Carson. Why don't you just give me the highlights?"

"Well then, where ta begin?" Carson folded his hands in front of him before moving them up and behind his head, "He isn't a clone - though the differences were obvious enough that I hadn't really entertained that conclusion for any length of time. Regardless, I compared his DNA to the Colonel's sample in our database and as expected they weren't identical. That being said..."

"They were close enough to indicate John Sheppard is most likely his father?"

Becket could only nod slowly, a look of reluctant acceptance slipping onto his face. "Aye. The computer isn't finished digging through his entire genome, but barring some unforeseen and I'd say pretty bloody unlikely discovery... that's his son lying on that bed."

"Just when I thought I'd seen everything the Pegasus Galaxy could throw at me." Elizabeth just slunk further back into her chair, head shaking side to side slowly, "Do you have any idea who his mother might be?"

"Hah!" At the less-than-amused look his boss was shooting him, Beckett fired off an apologetic smile. "Ya dunna understand Dr. Weir. It's taken me this long just to compare his genetic profile to the Colonel's, do you have any idea how long it would take me to compare it to every female on Atlantis? Or off it for that matter? I mean, you have met John Sheppard? As the old sayin' goes, that man seems to have a different woman at every bloody port."

She hated to admit it, but Elizabeth knew exactly the kind of behavior the good doctor was referring to. "Fair enough, I suppose I hadn't considered how truly... _daunting_ that task might actually be. With any luck he'll be able to tell us himself when he wakes up. Any idea when that might be?"

Carson didn't miss the yawn punctuating Weir's question, "Could be ten minutes, could be ten days. He does na appear to be slippin' too deep under at the moment, we've seen clear signs of dreaming. Well, ta be more accurate, we've clear signs of nightmares."

"Nightmares?" Elizabeth had to fight the urge to nudge a stray lock of hair off the young man's forehead.

"Aye. He was thrashing up a storm about twenty minutes before you arrived, calling for someone named 'Alex'." Becket ran a hand thoughtfully over his stubbly chin, "Was so severe that Doctor Keller thought he was havin' a seizure. If I hadn't seen the same reaction among a number of the soldiers I've treated previously I mighta had the same notion."

'Including the boy's father,' Elizabeth added silently. Though she would never bring it to the Colonel's attention, she'd seen him tossing in his infirmary bed on more than one occasion in the past. Her continued silence on that particular issue had as much to do with her own peace of mind as it did with protecting her Military Commander's pride though. If she were ever foolish enough to bring it up, she was sure the question burning the back of her consciousness would have finally slipped past her carefully constructed wall of professional indifference: why was it when the dreams seemed at their worst, he always called _her_ name?

Did he blame Elizabeth, even subconsciously, for whatever it was that haunted him? Or did he expect her to save him from those nightmares? To comfort him? How sad was it that both possibilities seemed to fill her with an equal measure of dread?

Pushing that thought to the furthest recesses of her sleep-deprived mind, she was more than a little surprised to find Ronan and Teyla making their way into the infirmary. Weir quriked an eyebrow at the pair, "Is everyone alright? Carson assured me your wounds weren't severe."

"Of course Dr. Weir," Teyla's smile was radiant considering the late hour, "Thank you for your concern. We actually came to check on... John. Has his condition improved?"

"I'm afraid not, dear. Still out like a light." Beckett slipped into his trademark indulgent smile, "Though I have to say I'm a bit surprised he has visitors already. Must be that Sheppard charm, eh Dr. Weir?"

It was Teyla's turn to quirk a brow. "I must admit I find it difficult to understand the reactions this man's arrival has elicited in many of the crew."

Elizabeth didn't miss Ronon's eye roll at the Athosian woman's comment, "How so, Teyla?"

"Is this not Colonel Sheppard's son? Is he not of our blood?" Teyla nodded towards the Captain's motionless form, "He wears the uniform of a warrior, the flag of his people - your people - on his arm. He is suffering and in need of our assistance. He has not harmed anyone or given us any indication that we should not trust him. Are these reasons not enough to welcome him with open arms?"

Carson and Elizabeth shared a bemused look before shaking their heads in agreement. "Aye love, I couldn't agree more. In fact I'll just fetch ya some chairs if you'd like to sit with him a while?"

"Thank you Doctor Beckett, _we_ would appreciate that." Ronon's growl was disarmed by a sharp glance from the Athosian woman.

Flopping down into the offered chair like a three hundred pound petulant child, Ronon kicked his feet up on the edge of the bed. "I still say you should have let me shoot him."

***************************************************************************************************************

"So, what are the odds looking like?" Rodney could barely contain his grin as he dropped his over-laden tray of food onto the table and slipped into the chair opposite Major Lorne. "Come on Major, don't leave me hanging in suspense over here."

Lorne eyed the thinning crowd of people milling about their table wearily as he took a few bites of his Wheaties. He kept a private stash of his favorite breakfast in an 'undisclosed location' far from prying eyes and sticky fingers. Finding the Major's stash had become a favorite past-time among many of the more easily bored citizens of the city. John had even had a box shipped in on the Dadaelus a few months back just to give the younger man a heart attack when he sat down across from him to enjoy a bowl, smirking knowingly after every bite. Finally narrowing his eyes at the scientist busily stuffing his face, Evan shook his head, "I have no idea what you're talking about McKay."

"What are you talking...," Rodney did his own quick, noticeably less stealthy, perusal of the crowd. Confident that there was no one within earshot that could pose a problem he pressed on, "We both know there was a pool going within ten minutes of Mini Me's arrival. I also know that if there's action going anywhere on Atlantis that you're the man to talk to."

Sighing in exasperation Evan just stared the smaller man down for a minute or two, part of him hoping the scientist would just take the hint. Everything Rodney had said was true, but Lorne's under the table operations had survived undetected this long primarily because he followed his own strict rules. Paramount among those rules was one that said 'never do business with superior officers or scientists who can't keep their mouths shut'. In many ways, McKay fell into both of those categories. Had it been a simple sports bet, or even some of the 'contraband' his buddy Cam always managed to slip into their shipments from the SGC, he would have gladly indulged the physicist. This however was too personal. Too dangerous.

If word got out to the wrong people, Lorne would be boned in ways he couldn't even contemplate yet. Hell, he wouldn't have touched the pool with a ten foot pole if the chance for profit hadn't been absolutely mind-boggling. The law of percentages was very clear on this kind of bet - there were going to be far more losers than winners, and practically everyone on the base wanted in on it. As 'the house' he was set to clean up on this little operation. Unless someone like Rodney opened his trap, that is.

"You're not getting in Rodney," Evan would try to intimidate the man, but having to deal with Ronon on a daily basis had probably rendered him all but immune. "If this ever got back to Sheppard..."

"It won't!" Noticing that a few of the occupants at tables nearby were now looking their way, McKay made a show of lowering his voice. "It won't. You're talking to Rodney McKay here Major. The guy who's made more Earth-shattering discoveries than Edison and Davinci combined and juiced up with Wraith enzyme..."

"And so modest too," Evan interjected.

"My point," Rodney scowled, "Is that if I can stomach the fact that no one in the scientific community will ever know that I'm not living in my Mother's garage toiling in obscurity on some kind of Skittles-powered perpetual motion machine, and _yes _that is one of the more colorful hypothesis I've heard about my whereabouts while perusing the 'net back on Earth, then I can keep my mouth shut about your silly little betting pool."

Evan seemed to consider this for a long moment before leaning down for another bite of Wheaties. "Still not getting in McKay."

_'Oh shit. I know that look.'_ Lorne halted mid bite as Rodney leaned forward with a devious smile. "I understand you think I'm a risk Major. What you might fail to process in that military mind of yours is that if I'm in the pool, it's in my vested interest that Sheppard not find out about it. If however, I'm not in the pool, why there would be no reason not to spare my dear friend the indignity of.."

"Alright!" After one last glace around the mess, Lorne pulled a small spiral notebook from the cargo pocket of his fatigues. "Twenty dollar minimum. Who do you want?"

"Hm.. odds on Teyla?"

"Four to one," Evan flipped a few pages in his notebook, "You'd be in good company, pretty popular bet."

Rodney snorted, "They might be forgetting he doesn't look like Teyla."

"Hey, he looks like the Colonel - I figure one guess is as good as another McKay." Scanning through a few entries though, he couldn't help but smirk. "I will admit, a few of the bets I've gotten do stretch the imagination a bit."

"Such as?" Rodney looked for all the world like a kid on his birthday, he was loving this.

"Well, let me see...," Evan continued eating as he listed off the names, "Two rather sizable bets on Chya in the last hour or so."

"Yeah, no _way_ that kid is an Ancient."

Lorne almost choked on his food, "You're just sayin' that cause he yelled at you."

"Actually...," Rodney shook his head, "That part would be par for the course. Who else?"

"Couple of bets on his ex-wife, few more for Doctor Weir, a smattering of female Marines, one of the Techs on duty when he arrived swore up and down he 'had Keller's eyes'." Evan imitated Chuck with surprising accuracy, pausing only to finish the last bite of his cereal, "Couple of the scientists, especially that British zoologist he's always golfing with, few of the _Daedalus_ crew, that space pirate who kidnapped him... oh, and he apparently had some chemistry with that brainy Colonel from the SGC."

Rodney coughed hard for nearly a minute before he finally dislodged the offending chunk of Jello from his trachea, leveling a frantic eye on Major Lorne. "Sam? Sheppard knows Sam?"

The Major managed to keep his face steady for about twenty seconds longer than he imagined he could before finally letting a smile creep through. "Relax McKay, that was just your lesson for blackmailing me."

"Ah, I see. Very creative." His hearbeat now down to a manageable level, Rodney's snark returned full force. "Just give me thirty on Larrin and keep the comedy routine to yourself."

Evan just rolled his eyes and scribbled down the bet, "Always a pleasure doing business with you Doctor."

***************************************************************************************************************

T.B.C.

Hope everyone is enjoying the story, drop me a line and let me know what you think. I'm churning this out faster than I originally thought so the next update could be any day now. Thanks as always for taking the time to comment.

- Dekardkain


	3. Chapter 3

Title- A Moment in Time  
Chapter- 3/?  
Author- Dekardkain  
Date- 10/15/09  
Rating- M  
Category- AU, S/W romance, action.  
Archiving- Would be an honor, just ask.  
Warnings- Violence/consensual sex  
Disclaimers- I don't own this, no money, yadda yadda.

Summary: An unexpected arrival brings new hope to Atlantis

Chapter 3 - "Fallout."

Repairs on the gate had been progressing rather nicely for the last few days, a steady swarm of technicians and scientists tearing up deck plates and replacing damaged components. However, while the techs were working double shifts to pick up the slack, the rest of Atlantis had practically ground to a stand-still. The Military contingent were exploiting the time off to service overworked equipment, repair damaged Jumpers, inventory munitions, and anything else that would eat up a little time. With the gate down for the foreseeable future, there were no reports to be read, no briefings to conduct, and Elizabeth found herself burdened with the one thing she'd never expected to be a problem in the Pegasus Galaxy: an overabundance of free time.

The corridors were dimmed for the night as Weir walked the short distance to her favorite balcony, hoping the fresh sea air might help clear her head and allow her to get some rest. At least that's what she told herself, but Elizabeth wasn't surprised to find the real reason for her visit leaning on the railing, gazing out onto the star-flecked waves. John sighed as he heard her approach, his hands tightening slightly on the rail, "I suppose you want to talk?"

"The thought had occurred to me," Elizabeth stepped up beside him, inhaling deeply. She knew John well enough to know that he wouldn't share anything if he wasn't good and ready, but at least she could try. He'd certainly been there for her often enough over the past few years. "You haven't been answering your radio."

Sheppard's smirk caused his teeth to glint devilishly in the moonlight, "Turned it off."

"I gathered as much," She frowned, "That's not like you John. You're not normally one to run from your problems."

"Hey, who's running?" John actually looked a little insulted, "What exactly am I supposed to do here Elizabeth? Run down to the infirmary, give him a big hug and offer to play catch? Did you see how he looked at me? What if he has the same kind of relationship I have with my father? He's trained to kill... that could get ugly."

Elizabeth was quiet for a long moment as she sorted through her thoughts. If she was honest with herself, she wasn't entirely sure how _she_ felt about all this. "Right now I'm sure all he needs is a familiar face. Someone to talk to about all of this. It can't be easy on him."

"I just... I don't know!" Sheppard spun around, looking more bewildered than Weir could ever remember seeing him, "What does he want? What does he need? What does he expect from me? You put a Wraith hive ship in orbit and tell me it needs knocking down, bam, I'm on it. Couple dozen Genii trying to take over the city? My only worry is if they brought along enough body bags. But this? This... well this is just annoying!"

"Congratulations John," Elizabeth rested a hand on his shoulder trying to stifle the rather inappropriate chuckles trying to bubble up at his little rant, "You're officially a parent. I'm afraid that whether they're born or shoved through a Stargate, they don't come with an owner's manual."

"Yeah, that's the annoying part." John forced a smile as he brought his right hand up to join Elizabeth's still resting on his shoulder. "Well, I suppose there is some good news in all of this."

Quirking a brow at his sudden smile, she tilted her head to look him in the eye. "Yeah, what's that?"

John drew in a deep breath, trying desperately to keep a straight face. "At least I don't have to worry about diapers."

With that observation Elizabeth could feel the last of her resolve crumble, uncontrollable laughter sending her tiny frame into convulsive fits. At first John did his best to look offended as she desperately tried to suck in enough breath to apologize, but by the time her face had achieved a color only a few shades lighter than her red v-neck, he was laughing too. Both of them stood there, laughing like maniacs at the sheer absurdity of it all until Elizabeth brought a shaking hand up to her ear, motioning for John to quiet down.

After a few seconds to regain some much needed breath, she activated her radio, "Can you repeat that Doctor?"

"Aye. You asked me to notify you of any changes in young Sheppard's condition," Beckett paused as he fiddled with a monitor, inadvertently causing Weir's heart to begin racing in anticipation of bad news. "I think he's starting ta come 'round."

Releasing a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, Elizabeth nodded. "I'll be right there Carson."

***************************************************************************************************************

"I think he's starting ta come 'round."

The thickly accented voice rattled around in Captain Sheppard's sleep-fogged brain while the soldier struggled to pry open eyelids that seemed to be glued together. Running a hand through his disheveled hair, he groaned in protest as the bright lights of the infirmary assaulted eyes that hadn't been open for days, adding a whole new level to the dull throb echoing through his skull. Sure, he'd probably felt worse at some point in his life, but right now he couldn't remember a specific instance.

"John, can ya hear me lad?" Carson glanced back and forth between his patient and the monitors at his bedside, "Can you tell me where ya are?"

"Well," John coughed a few times as he tried to find his voice buried deep in an excessively dry throat, "I assume hell would be warmer... so this must be Atlantis."

Beckett smirked to the small group clustered around him while raising the bed into a sitting position, "Well, I see your sense of humor survived intact. How are ya feelin'?"

Squinting against the still too-bright light, Cpt. Sheppard took in the faces staring down at him one by one. "Frankly, like someone just walked over my grave. I don't mean to sound ungrateful Doc, but just who the hell are you?"

"I'm Doctor Carson Beckett, lad." The Scot waited a moment to see if the information would jog his patient's memory before frowning, "He may be suffering some kind of memory loss. Do ya recognize anyone else here son?"

Quirking an eyebrow in a classic display of Sheppard annoyance, John started from the left and worked his way down the line. "Teyla, Chewy, Rodney, and...," Suddenly sitting up a little straighter despite the obvious discomfort it caused, the Captain smiled, "Well hello there. Just who might you be?"

Ignoring the amused looks their audience were exchanging, Jennifer extended a hand. "I'm Doctor Keller, Captain. We haven't met before?"

"Oh, I think I would have remembered if we had," He drawled, taking hold of her fingers lightly. "Captain Jack Sheppard, at your service."

"Indeed," Carson decided to ride to the blushing Doctor's rescue, "You gave us quite a scare son... wait a minute, did ya say 'Jack'?"

Slowly shifting his gaze away from Keller, John nodded. "Yeah. What of it?"

"Well, just surprising is all. Your tags said John J. Sheppard."

The Captain's mood shifted visibly, a storm cloud racing across his face. "The 'J' stands for Jack. Johnathan Jack Sheppard."

Carson nodded slowly, a bit taken aback by the sudden mood swing, "I suppose that would make things easier, what with your father havin' the same name and all."

"No, that was never really an issue. My father died saving my mother from the Replicators six months before I was born." Ignoring the startled looks the others were now sporting, Sheppard sunk back onto the bed, "Though he did play a role in my decision to use my middle name, as it was pretty annoying having to explain to every new culture that no, I wasn't _the_ John Sheppard. If it makes you feel any better, they were always very disappointed."

Beckett was suddenly very glad that Colonel Sheppard wasn't in the room at the moment, for more than one reason. Shoving thoughts of his friend's untimely demise to the back of his mind, Carson continued through his mental checklist, "Well we've already covered the where, do you know _when_ ya are lad?"

"No idea. Though my father being alive means its got to be at least twenty-three years ago." Jack shook his head for a moment before narrowing his eyes on McKay, "The T-Zed PM wasn't that precise. It was gonna send us as far back as it's pretty limited power supply allowed, but we had no idea exactly how far that would be."

Rodney's disinterested expression shifted rapidly to one of rabid interest, "T-Zed PM?"

"Yeah, I figured that would give you a hard-on," Jack rolled his eyes as he leaned back on the bed. "It's a temporal Zed-PM. No, it wasn't designed for time travel - in fact that's kinda why they stopped using it. See, a regular ZPM is limited by the amount of power the singularity can produce at any given point in time. That means that there is a real and unalterable limit to how much juice you can squeeze out of any one ZPM."

McKay was nodding enthusiastically as the wheels in his own mind started spinning into overdrive. "We've run into that problem more than once here on our Atlantis."

"Your Atlantis? Rodney, I'm from a different time not a different dimension, it's the same damn Atlantis. Try and keep up will ya?"

"Um... sorry?" McKay exchanged a puzzled look with Carson before motioning for Jack to continue.

"Anyways, before I got side-tracked with Temporal Mechanics 101, I was explaining how the T-Zed PM managed to get around the energy constraints of a typical ZPM." Jack smiled suddenly as a story his Godfather had once told him came to mind, "McKay, you remember the time the SGC was nearly destroyed by temporal distortions caused by the gate connecting to a planet on the verge of being swallowed by a black hole?"

Rodney lit up at the reference, the pieces starting to fall into place. "I wasn't working there at the time, but they did call me in for consultation on the problem. I convinced them that the only way to stop the reaction was to destroy the gate."

"Stellar call there chief, you ever get tired of being wrong?" Sheppard sighed deeply, pinching his nose in agitation, "Sorry McKay, I keep having to remind myself you're not the same dumb son-of-a-bitch that shoved me through that gate. A twenty year preemptive ass-kicking wouldn't look very good on my record."

Slightly mollified now that he at least understood the young man's hostility towards him Rodney pressed on, "So, the T-Zed PM speeds up time to allow more power production?"

"Not precisely." It was a bit disconcerting watching someone who looked exactly like their John Sheppard getting so excited about something scientific, "It creates a bubble of space-time within the module that actually slows time down. Just like what happened in the SGC, where hours or even days outside the field seemed like minutes for those inside of it."

"We've seen this kind of Ancient technology before." Rodney turned to Teyla and Ronon who were looking more and more lost by the second, "The temporal compression field that swallowed Colonel Sheppard, only... backwards."

Ronon frowned at the memory, he'd never felt more helpless than he had during that incident. Having to stand by and watch, knowing that every hour that passed was equivalent to weeks for his lost comrade. Standing next to him, Doctor Keller seemed rather enthralled with the Captain's explanation, "How would that help?"

"Because by slowing down time inside the module, the singularity can be kept open and producing energy for a much longer period of time," Jack shrugged, "From our perspective at least. Time being relative and all that."

Beckett smiled, "Well, that sounds like it would be pretty bloody helpful, eh Rodney?"

"Just one of those bad boys could power Atlantis for generations!" Rodney couldn't contain his excitement, "We could take a beating from an entire Wraith armada and still have enough juice to blow 'em out of the sky."

Jack scoffed, "You're forgetting the first rule of Ancient technology McKay - there's always a catch. They never could figure out a way to separate the energy itself from the temporal field inside the module."

"Oh... " The wind seemed to leave the scientist's sails just as quickly as it had arrived as he carefully mouthed the dreaded words, "Temporal dilation?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. Every time they tried to plug it in the entire city phased in and out of space-time." Sheppard smiled apologetically, patting the disheartened man on the shoulder. "Sorry Rodney, they knew it would never work the way it was designed which is why they deleted the research from their database and buried the only surviving T-Zed PM on a backwater wasteland."

McKay nodded solemnly, quirking an eyebrow as something occurred to him. "Are you sure you're John Sheppard's son? _Our_ John Sheppard?"

"Rodney!" Teyla, Jennifer, and Carson exclaimed in unison, each tossing him an exasperated look.

"What? Oh come on!" McKay lifted a hand, flicking off points on his fingers, "He just made it through a rather complicated scientific explanation, during which he never misused a single term, nor used the words doohickey, thingamajig, whatchamacallit, or the phrase 'on a stick'. Don't tell me you all don't have your doubts!"

"Doctor, you were teaching me wormhole theory when most kids were learning to tie their shoes. In case you hadn't noticed the city of Atlantis doesn't exactly have access to the finer elementary schools, but I had some fairly good tutors." Jack smiled dangerously, "And just for the record, I'm seriously rethinking my previous stance on that preemptive ass-kicking."

"He's not the only one." Colonel Sheppard groused from his position at the doorway next to a rather amused looking Elizabeth, "And if you remember Rodney, the MALP on a stick thing was your bright idea."

"Doesn't surprise me in the least, all the bad ones seem to be." Jack shot his father a grateful smile as he pointedly ignored Rodney's sputtering indignation.

Carson decided that moment was as good as any to interject, "I'm sure he'll be able to answer all your questions at the debriefing Rodney and I believe Doctor Weir has a lot she'd like to discuss with the good Captain before he drains the last of his stength yellin' at you."

Jack nodded slightly, squeezing Teyla's upper arm as reassuringly as his injured hand would allow. "Thanks for coming to see me. I'm sure there'll be plenty of time to catch up when I'm sprung."

"It was no trouble," Teyla smiled as she lowered her forehead to his, "I wish you a speedy recovery."

"Ummm..," Jack looked exceedingly uncomfortable as he pivoted to face his other visitors, apparently the younger Sheppard wasn't any more adept at dealing with his feelings than his father was. "Don't uh... don't beat yourself up too much McKay. If you hadn't knocked me through that gate well, I'd be very, _very_, dead right now. It took a pretty big pair to do what ya did, knowing there was only enough power for one of us to get through. Guess that's why I'm mad at you... you shouldn't have sacrificed yourself to save me. That's kinda supposed to be my job."

McKay looked as shocked as anyone else at the mention of his future self's heroics, but he clasped the young soldier's offered hand anyways. "I'm sure he had his reasons Jo.. Jack. I mean, I can't imagine what they were right at this moment, but I'm sure he had them."

"Yeah, I've been told I grow on people - kinda like a fungus." Jack laughed, turning at last to Ronon. They eyed each other for an uncomfortably long time before Sheppard smiled, "I know you don't trust me yet big guy, but you have no idea how good it is to see you again. As soon as I'm out of here we're hitting the gym. I've always wanted a shot at Ronon Dex in his prime."

"Then you'll have one little man." Ronon just nodded, a slight smile tugging at one corner of his mouth. "I've always wanted a shot at Sheppard in his prime."

John scowled at the Satedan making his way out of the Infirmary, "You're not that much younger than me!"

Beckett and Keller made themselves scarce, leaving Elizabeth alone with both Sheppards who now appeared to be openly sizing each other up. They all shared a long and rather uncomfortable silence before the diplomat in Elizabeth decided to break the stalemate, "So, how exactly is it that you find yourself here Captain?"

"Ma'am, as leader of Atlantis I believe you and I should discuss a few things in private before we proceed." Jack smiled sheepishly, "There might be certain information about the time line that you wouldn't want made public."

"That sounds reasonable." Elizabeth cut off John's argument before he could even get started, "We have no idea what the ramifications of this could be Colonel. Until we know more I think it's a wise precaution to limit information about the future as much as humanly possible."

Sheppard sighed, tossing her a look that clearly said 'weren't you the one who just convinced me to talk to him?' before shaking his head. "I'll be in the mess if you need me."

"Thank you John" She gave him a reassuring smile, waiting until he had left before turning back to the Captain. "I get the feeling this story isn't going to be entirely pleasant."

Jack's eyes darkened as he motioned to a chair beside his bed, "Yeah, you'd better take a seat."

***************************************************************************************************************

**Four Days Earlier**

"Ten more minutes!"

Rodney's frantic voice cut across his radio, barely discernible over the sounds of battle surrounding them, Captain Sheppard's P-90 only quieting long enough for him to reload. Beside him, Alex practically growled as she tightened the makeshift tourniquet around his wounded shoulder. "Ten more minutes? And I thought you were the optimist!"

"If that's what he needs Lieutenant, that's what we're gonna give him!" Shoving off the wall, Jack dropped the next two Corethian soldiers foolish enough to round the corner before either could squeeze off a single shot. Checking his tracker one last time to be sure he'd gotten the last of them, he activated his radio, "All units fall back to the Gate Room, two by two cover formation - we'll make our stand there!"

The short journey through the halls of Atlantis cost him three more men, but they'd made the enemy pay in blood for every inch of ground. He took a moment to thank the powers that be that they'd had enough warning to evacuate all the non-military personnel to the Alpha Site before the Corethians had arrived. They numbered less than ten by the time they finally sealed the door to the gate room, buying them a few precious minutes until the soldiers outside could bring up enough explosives to blow the door. Leaning heavily on his second in command, Sheppard felt a surge of relief as he saw the Stargate already powering up. "McKay, report!"

Rodney ran a hand through his graying hair in frustration, "I'm almost done! And for the record, yelling at me doesn't help!"

"You said that twenty minutes ago!" Alexandra helped Jack into a nearby chair, her brow creasing as she took in his pallid complexion, "Jack, stay still, you've lost a lot of blood."

"Really?" Sheppard laughed, immediately regretting it as another wave of pain shot through him causing him to grind his teeth. "I hadn't noticed."

The alarm on Rodney's watch began to beep frantically, causing the level of apprehension in the room to rise exponentially. The scientist didn't really need to remind them of the alarm's significance, but in his own desperation he did anyways, "Five minutes until self destruct!"

"McKay, if I die today I am going to be very unhappy!" Jack smiled lazily as the morphine Alex had administered finally kicked in, "I had plans for the weekend and everything."

"With any luck we'll all be having dinner on Earth while explaining to the President how we intend to prevent _this_," Rodney motioned to the gate room door, "From ever happening. Assuming of course that we don't overshoot our destination time and end up in the Triassic."

Sheppard groaned as Kharkov adjusted his tourniquet, "I dunno, I've always wanted to meet a dinosaur."

"Trust me, it's overrated." McKay grinned in triumph as he activated the gate with a flourish, "And he said, 'let there be time travel!'"

The T-ZPM attached off to one side of the gate began to glow an incandescent violet, tendrils of power licking out in every direction to encompass the Stargate. A high-pitched siren seemed to echo off the hull as the power continued to build towards it's inevitable crescendo, suddenly silencing as the event horizon kawooshed into existence. No sooner had the connection been established than every other light in the room cut out, leaving them with nothing but the gate's eerie blue glow. A few of the soldiers pulled out emergency flares, their hellish red now mixing with the muted teal light coming off the gate.

"Ummm... McKay?" Jack leveraged himself out of his chair, dragging his injured leg behind him as he made his way over to the disheveled scientist. "You wanna clue me in on just what in the hell happened there?"

"I didn't know!" Rodney looked up at him desperately, "There's no way I could have known until we fired it up!"

Placing a hand on each of the man's shoulders, Jack did his best to keep his voice level and calming, "What happened Rodney?"

"There's no where near as much power as I thought there was. Like I said, there was no way to verify it short of activating the module." Sheppard had never seen the man looking so utterly defeated, his heart clenched at the despair radiating off of him. "It took every last drop of power from our functioning Zed-PMs just to establish the wormhole... there's only enough energy left for one person to go through."

"Change of plan guys. Fan out and prepare to defend this position." Sheppard suddenly looked much older than his scant twenty-two years as he nodded in understanding. Running a hand through his blood-matted hair, he passed an eye over the soldiers waiting expectantly for him to pull some new miracle out of his hat. He had failed them. He had promised them they would make it out of here, and that was no longer a promise he could hope to deliver on. It filled him with equal measures of pride and regret how quickly they seemed to accept his words, preparing their weapons and moving into position for the final siege. Jack wrapped one strong hand around Rodney's upper arm, dragging the stunned scientist down the stairs leading from Control to the Gate Room with Alex close behind. "Come on Doc, would be a shame if you missed your flight."

"What? No!" McKay tried to pull away, but even with his wounds Sheppard was strong enough to keep him moving down the staircase. "You don't understand! After I go through there won't be enough power to dial the Alpha Site! You'll all be killed when the self destruct goes off!"

Alex scoffed, "Is he questioning our bravery or our intelligence?"

Coming to a halt ten yards in front of the glowing Stargate, Jack forced Rodney to look him in the eye. "I understand perfectly. _This_ is our job. _This_ is why we're here - to keep you alive long enough to save the galaxy. Remember? You have to go back and fix this Rodney... you have to make things right!"

The older man was just about to respond when the doors to Control were shattered in a single massive explosion, the concussion knocking all three of them off of their feet, chunks of white-hot shrapnel tearing into their skin as the air around them was peppered with automatic weapons fire. Wrenching himself up onto a knee, Jack grabbed the wounded scientist by the back of his tactical vest and began dragging him across the floor towards the open portal. From the periphery of his vision he was relieved to see Kharkov already back on her feet and covering their withdrawal. Every inch of his body was on fire, the sickly warmth of fresh blood mingled with cold sweat as he tried desperately to make it those last few feet. To somehow find the strength he needed to see this through to the end - to complete his mission.

Rodney was clutching the upper thigh of his left leg, a jagged piece of the door clearly visible between his blood-soaked fingers, a thick trail of red marked every inch of the ground he had been dragged across. Smoke was rapidly filling the room, the screams of the wounded and dying seemed to be coming from every direction simultaneously. Alex never made a sound as she collapsed limply at his feet, two large holes in her chest, blood pooling beneath her still form. Fighting against his wounds. Fighting against gravity. Fighting against the darkness closing in from the edges of his vision, Sheppard's focus began and ended with putting one boot in front of the other. "Come on old man, I need you to stand up! I can't throw you through the damn gate!"

A mere three steps from his target, Jack had the sudden impression a horse had kicked him just under his left shoulder blade. His vest absorbed most of the bullet's impact, the force spinning him around and dropping him on his back between Rodney and the Stargate. He could feel the broken ribs shifting as he fought to regain his footing and his breath, the enemy soldiers swarming in from every direction as the last of his defenders fell before them. He was vaguely aware of their voices, demanding he surrender in their stilted and guttural tongue. Stumbling onto increasingly unsteady legs he found himself staring at what his admittedly woozy mind assured him was a very peculiar sight.

Doctor Rodney McKay had drawn his standard issue sidearm, which he was pretty sure wasn't that peculiar in this kind of situation, but what struck him as odd was what he was aiming at. He was aiming at _him_. Feeling an eyebrow quirk in surprise, Jack stopped dead in his tracks. "Rodney?"

"I couldn't save your father," Rodney's hand was shaking enough to make Sheppard decidedly uncomfortable, "I guess this makes us even, huh?"

Sudden realization slammed into Jack's mind with a force that easily dwarfed the earlier explosion, his heart seemed to stop as he raised his uninjured arm towards the man he'd known and trusted his entire life. "Rodney NO!"

The sound roaring between his ears meant he didn't actually hear the shot. He simply folded around his midsection as the round flattened on his vest, and fell backwards through the gate.

***************************************************************************************************************

T.B.C

Author's note: I noticed some rather silly mistakes in the first few chapters of this piece. Aparently I can only read through my own stuff so many times before my brain shuts down, so if anyone reading this would be interested in acting as a beta for this story please drop me a line. You will be given credit and it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all for reading. I just hope you're getting as much enjoyment from reading it as I am writing it.


	4. Chapter 4

Title- A Moment in Time  
Chapter- 4/?  
Author- Dekardkain  
Date- 10/22/09  
Rating- M  
Category- AU, S/W romance, action.  
Archiving- Would be an honor, just ask.  
Warnings- Violence/consensual sex  
Disclaimers- I don't own this, no money, yadda yadda.

Summary: An unexpected arrival brings new hope to Atlantis

Author's Note: Keep in mind this story is AU. I know that Carson was dead by the time period I set this story in, ect. But this is how I envisioned the story, so just try to roll with it.

Chapter 4 - "Complications"

"I didn't tell her Rodney." Jack shrugged his shoulders, digging into the late dinner the scientist had brought as cover for his not so subtle information gathering.

Sheppard was reclining comfortably on the narrow bed of his newly acquired quarters, one pillow between his back and the wall, the other folded and propping up his injured leg. His fifth day in the infirmary, and two days into the project he'd quite cleverly code-named 'Annoy Beckett Until I Can Get the Hell Out of Here', the red faced physician had declared him fit enough to be allowed to recuperate on his own. Well, nearly alone. He still had to lug around a crutch for the next two weeks and put up with random checkups from the medical staff, but it was a small price to pay for freedom.

The bullet wounds were healing nicely, their cause long removed from his shattered flesh, but the serrated blade of the Corethian combat knife had done some rather extensive damage to his upper thigh. Putting weight on the appendage was a crash course in agony that Jack didn't plan on repeating anytime soon. Especially now that morphine was no longer just a button away.

They'd been at this for nearly thirty minutes now and while McKay had garnered very little he didn't already know about the young man, Sheppard had managed to identify at least three separate betting pools riding on his answers. He was starting to slowly realize that twenty years didn't make much of a difference, Atlantis had always been full of a lot of very bored people with rather ingenious minds. Minds that tended to be extra inventive when trying to figure out ways to spice up the slow days. With the Gate still being repaired and the _Daedalus_ three weeks out, these definitely qualified as slow days.

"Hm? Really?" McKay frowned, "That would have been my first question."

"That's because you're a Yentel Rodney," Jack chuckled as he enjoyed a long drag of the first coffee he'd had in nearly three years. One thing about returning to the past he hadn't really considered was the abundance of things he had been forced to do without during their slow spiral down the drain. Everything from the truly necessary like antibiotics and contraceptives, to the truly indulgent was now readily at hand. It was sometimes staggering for him to think he could have coffee, beer, chocolate, and a fully stocked kitchen for the first time he could remember. Maybe this trip wasn't going to be all bad after all.

"And I said that I didn't tell her, _not_ that she didn't ask." He smirked slightly at the scientist's expression.

"But you didn't tell her?" It was more statement than question.

Jack nodded slowly, finishing a bite of turkey before continuing. "I haven't figured out which of the three temporal theories I'm actually dealing with here. Need to run a few small tests first. You know, make sure I don't destroy the totality of existence or something."

"Well obviously I could help you with...," Rodney trailed off, quirking his head to one side. "Three temporal theories?"

_There's that look again._

McKay was actually starting to see how he himself rubbed so many others the wrong way. Ever since arriving here, Jack had the most infuriating habit of meeting many of his questions with what he could only describe as the man's 'are you slow?' expression, and to be honest it was getting on his nerves. Shoving his irritation to the back burner Rodney motioned for him to continue.

"I wanna be able to eat my dinner in peace so I'll make this short." Jack set his tray on the bedside table while casting a last longing look at the so far untouched mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, "There's only really three possibilities when it comes to messing with the time line. You've either got the _Back to the Future_ approach, the 'Can't Kill Hitler' approach, or the 'Have Fun With It' approach.'"

"Yes, of course." Rodney couldn't contain his smirk, "That all sounds very scientific."

Jack motioned to his food in obvious irritation, "If you don't wanna hear it I'll be more than happy to go back to my food McKay."

"No no. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm over here. John Sheppard is going to explain time travel to me!"

Ignoring the older man's snark Jack launched himself into his explanation, "I use those terms to make it easier for me to remember. Believe it or not Rodney, temporal mechanics doesn't hold the same appeal to those of us who need to apply our brains to more pressing tasks. The _Back to the Future_ scenario means that it's extremely difficult and dangerous to make changes to the time line. In that case there is only one central time line, and altering it at any point in the past changes everything that comes after. You experience a cascade or ripple effect that means that I could theoretically do something to make myself not exist, or something like that."

"Alright, now the Michael J. Fox reference makes sense at least." Rodney snagged a dinner roll off Sheppard's tray, too busy in his own little word to catch the man's glare. "For the record, those movies were just awful. The science was questionable to say the least and don't get me started on choosing a solid steel vehicle that gets fifteen miles to the gallon for your..."

"Moving on." Jack had been dealing with Rodney all his life and he knew better than to let the man derail into one of his rants. "My personal favorite is the 'Can't Kill Hitler' theory, because it makes so much sense in a twisted kinda way. Like the first one, you have to accept the principle of a single time line that any change will 'ripple' through. It goes like this: Hitler was a humongous douche and we can all agree the world would have been better off if he'd bit it in the trenches of World War I, right? Well, the problem lies in that ripple effect we were talking about. If I go back in time and kill Hitler, then he would never have been able to start World War II, kill millions of innocent people, and all the other fun stuff that crazy cat got down to.

So the question is, if he never did any of that and had just died as some anonymous schmuck in the trenches, why would I, a person from eighty years in the future, have gone back and killed him? Well, I wouldn't have. So Hitler stays alive and does all his evil shenanigans, and we're back to square one. Bottom line with that one is that you can't change the past because by doing so you remove the very reason you went back in time in the first place."

"Sensible. Depressing as hell, but sensible." McKay shook his head, "We've seen a lot of evidence for an infinite number of time lines and dimensions in the past."

"Yeah, that's why you concocted this little gem. You managed to convince us that the third possibility was the most likely."

Rodney seemed oddly pleased with his future self. "Ah. Well of course I... he did. So I take it the 'Have Fun With It' approach means that the presence of alternate time lines means that even if say, your parents never got together, you would still exist because of the multiple branches?"

Jack's mood dimmed noticeably as he retrieved his tray from the bedside table. "Yeah. Unfortunately, it also means that no matter what I do here, my own 'branch' will always exist. All those people who died... they're still gonna be dead. Earth will still be gone, Atlantis will still be destroyed, and the Tau'ri will still be an endangered species."

"Wow." Rodney frowned, "I bet no one's ever accused you of having a sunny disposition, have they? Hm. Maybe you _are_ Bizzaro Sheppard. Minus the goatee of course."

Jack finally began digging into his much anticipated mashed potatoes when they were interrupted by the door chiming. Letting his eyes drift closed for a quick moment he coaxed Atlantis into opening the door, muttering around a mouthful of food, "Come in."

"Impressive." Rodney smiled in obvious delight, "I don't even know if dear ol' dad can get the doors to open with his mind. Your ATA compatibility seems to be even higher than his! You know I have some artifacts in my lab I would love to have you...."

For a second McKay actually deluded himself into believing the younger man was returning his smile at the prospect of aiding his research. Of course that was before he caught the distinctive female voice coming from the doorway and realized he was now being completely ignored. Doctor Keller nodded towards the frowning scientist, "Is this a bad time?"

"'Course not Doc! The more the merrier." Jack motioned to the small recliner astride his dresser. "Pop a squat."

"It's good to see you're resting Captain," Letting her small medical bag drop to the floor, Jennifer slid into the offered chair with a contended sigh. "With your father's track record we were a bit worried you would push yourself too hard."

Sheppard's smirk nearly split his face, "No worries on that front Doc. I only plan to exert myself when it's _really_ necessary."

"So you won't be joining John and Ronon for their morning runs then?" Keller actually seemed surprised.

It was starting to get a little annoying for Jack the way every time he differed from John on something, people looked at him like he'd sprouted a second head. Was any son completely like his father? He had decided the whole time travel aspect must be throwing them off a bit, but it was still trying on his already frayed nerves.

Deciding to be diplomatic he smiled over his food, "I don't run for recreation. Frankly, it's too much like my day job."

"Here here." Rodney nodded enthusiastically, "One should only run when being chased."

"Besides," Jack winked at her, "I was always more partial to the fighting than the running. If anything's dangerous enough to get me beatin' feet it's a pretty safe bet we won't be able to out run it."

Rolling her eyes slightly, Jennifer pointed an accusing finger at him. "Maybe if you run next time you won't end up with quite so many holes in you."

"Now where would be the fun in that?" Sheppard's eyes twinkled as he set his now empty dinner tray on the nightstand, "No meals in bed. No lounging around all day reading. And most importantly, no house calls from my favorite physician. Gotta say Doc, my stupidity has actually paid off pretty nicely this time."

Rodney decided then and there to recommend to Heightmeyer that the Sheppard phenomenon should be extensively studied for posterity. The kid had never met his father in his entire life, and yet he managed to go Kirk on Jennifer in a way that implied he'd studied the man for a lifetime. Maybe he should lighten up on John a bit - he genuinely might _not_ be able to help it.

It appeared to be genetic.

***************************************************************************************************************

*One Week Later*

John Sheppard could file a fair portion of his life away into the 'bored as hell' category, there was no denying that. Such was life in the military; incredible stretches of tedium and monotony punctuated by brief periods of the kind of frantic activity he lived for. You couldn't very well have one without the other he supposed, but in a perfect universe... well, days like this wouldn't be necessary.

They were slowly, ponderously, tediously, making their way through the Ancient database on a planet by planet by planet basis so Jack could provide them with any intelligence he remembered about them. John was happy for the help, but frankly it took a lot of the fun out of the job to already know what to expect. Wasn't stepping into the unknown part of what made their lives so exciting? Well, and dangerous, he conceded after a moment.

By now the fleeting novelty of running into his own, fully grown, son had even started to feel pedestrian and repetitive. After spending the better part of a day debriefing the young soldier, Elizabeth had deemed the vast majority of the information he provided 'privileged'. A category her military commander apparently no longer fell into, much to his chagrin. In fact, it seemed like both Jack and Elizabeth were going out of their way to avoid bumping into him outside of these accursed staff meetings they both deemed so damned important. For all intents and purposes Jack had been integrated into John's command structure, and the idea of simply ordering the man to come clean was becoming more and more appealing by the minute.

Earlier that day, John had spotted the Captain limping out of the Officer's Quarters during his morning run. Yanking his IPod's ear buds out by the cord Sheppard offered up the warmest smile he could muster this early in the morning, "Where ya off to this morning Captain?"

Noticing the way the man's shoulders squared at his mention of rank, John sighed. _Wow, didn't take long to screw that up. _"At ease. You're not back on duty yet anyways."

"Thank you, sir." Shifting his weight back and forth between his good leg and his single crutch, Jack tried to return his father's smile as he started back down the hallway. "Was just headed to the mess for some breakfast before our briefing... if you'd care to join me."

John nodded as he fell into step beside him, "What happened? Get sick of pretty nurses bringing food directly to you already?"

"Actually," Jack tilted his head slightly to hide his smirk, "I'm meeting Doctor Keller down there. She promised me the deluxe tour when she gets off duty tonight."

"Tour? But you grew up he...," Sheppard trailed off shaking his head and whistling low. "Wow. You really do swing for the fences dontcha kid?"

"Life's short." John didn't miss the younger man's eye roll, "I've already had the 'sex talk' if that's what you're worried about Colonel."

John smiled easily, not mean enough to point out that the Captain was obviously in no shape for that much physical activity. "Never crossed my mind. Besides, us Sheppards seem to come by it pretty intuitively."

"So I've heard." Jack shivered visibly at the thought of his father with... well, anyone. Deciding a rapid change of subject would be prudent he switched gears back into work mode. _Comfortable, comfortable work mode. _"Any idea where I'm gonna end up yet?"

The Colonel broke his stride, resting a hand on his son's arm to get him to halt. He had the feeling this conversation was best kept out of the mess, "Yeah, about that..."

"Wait. Let me guess?" The younger Sheppard exhaled sharply through his nose, "The IOA pitched a bitch fit, probably cited favoritism, and so I'm not getting my own team. That about cover it?"

"Pretty much." John could only shrug, "Wish they'd been that brief. Or ya know, just without the yelling."

"Dammit!" Glancing quickly around the hallway, Jack made it a point to lower his voice. "Permission to speak freely?"

"This should be good," John nodded for him to continue.

"Just how are we supposed to win this war with these... these pencil-pushing bureaucrats second guessing our every move?! I've only been here a week and already I've got the distinct impression that _this_ is the kind of shit that cost us Earth!"

"Believe me when I say I know exactly where you're coming from here Jack." Sighing, Sheppard ran a hand through his already disheveled hair as he tried to come up with the best way to get his point across. "You gotta take the bad with the good on this one. Sure, the civilians will piss you off from time to time but in the long run it pays to have them in the loop. I can't tell you how many times Rodney has saved our asses out here or how often Elizabeth's caution was proven right when the military just went barreling in without thinking. We're the body and they're the brain and the heart. You need all the pieces to work together, you know?"

"Fair enough. I guess it'll just take some time to get used to the Military not being in complete control. Sure made things easier. " Jack smiled slightly, "Can I still reserve the right to bitch and moan at every opportunity, sir?"

"Agreed." Falling back into the slow pace dictated by the Captain's injuries, John added, "You should hear Ronon complain about mission reports. I swear I've never heard him speak that many words at one time before. He griped through our entire morning run, which he lost because he couldn't breathe. Then he started bitching about that! Not his best day."

"If you think that's as bad as he gets, count yourself lucky you've never had to deal with him when he's got the Athosian flu." Slipping past a couple of techs, both of whom did a noticeable double-take before remembering why they were seeing two John Sheppards walking through the hall together, Jack dialed up their desired location on the transporter screen.

If people didn't stop gawking soon he might just have to start messing with them, and nobody wanted that. It was bad enough that because of their nearly identical physique most of his clothes, with the exception of the ruined uniform he had arrived in and a few pairs of scrubs he'd snatched from the infirmary, were hand me downs from John. "So, what exactly did they have to say?"

Stepping out of the transporter a moment later, John tossed a wave at Carson as he exited the mess. "Pretty much what you'd expect. That they couldn't condone placing an off-world team in the hands of an untested twenty-two year old Captain."

"Untested?" Jack scoffed, "No offense sir, but you've been here on Atlantis for what? Three years? I've been fighting the Wraith for almost seven. I've been in charge of an assault team for three and head of Search and Rescue for two."

"Hey, choir here. But then they pointed out that Ronon and Teyla both have more experience with the Pegasus Galaxy than I do and they still serve under me." John really had tried to press the point. The kid had his own team in his time, and with Rodney assuring them that traveling forward in time wasn't really an option, they might as well find a way to put his considerable skills to work for them in the present.

However, the world he'd come from was a far cry from their own. With Earth knocked out by the Wraith and the survivors fighting for their lives, it made sense for a military career to start at sixteen, and for a twenty-two year old to have his own team. Here though, they had other options. "Listen, just think of it as a refresher course. Take some time to familiarize yourself with how we do things here and a get feel for the people you'll be working with."

"Yes sir." He would accept it, but he wouldn't deny the bad taste it left his mouth. The last thing Jack expected when he arrived was a demotion. "And who exactly will I be working with?"

"Glad you asked," John glowered down at the limited selection of food before him while Jack snagged two of everything like he hadn't eaten in months. "Two of Major Lorne's team were wounded shortly before your arrival. Lieutenant Marks is going to need extensive rehabilitation Earth-side, so you'll be taking over his spot for the foreseeable future. If you're healed up by the time we get the gate up and running that is."

Eying the case one last time to make sure he hadn't missed anything the Captain moved to a table nearby, carefully balancing his tray with one hand while the other was occupied with his crutch. "Wouldn't worry about that Colonel. I'm a fast healer. Should be even faster now that I've got some proper food. But with your permission, I did have an idea about how I could spend some of my down time."

Taking a slow swig of his coffee, John leaned back into his chair. "I'm all ears Captain."

***************************************************************************************************************

*Two Days Later*

The cool breeze blowing across the North Pier swirled around them, the small drops of water carried by it giving the illusion of a light rain despite the clearly cloudless Atlantian skies. Doctor Beckett crossed his arms over his chest in his best 'I'm a bloody doctor' pose as he eyed the cheeky little bugger walking up and down the line of assembled science and medical personnel like he thought he was Bernard bloody Montgomery.

Jack smiled behind his aviators while idly scratching a stubbled cheek, "Everyone know why we're here?"

"Because we've been bloody drafted," Carson grumbled, a few of the others nodding in agreement.

"Come on Doc, I promise it won't be too painful." Sheppard slapped a hand on the Scot's shoulder. "Hey, if McKay can learn how to shoot straight so can you!"

Beckett just snorted as he motioned to the P-90 the man was carrying, "We're not soldiers Captain. All the extra trainin' in the world won't change that a bit."

Jack seemed to mull this over for a minute before leveraging himself up to sit onto the railing, his feet knitting through the lower rung for balance. "I'm afraid we're just gonna have to disagree Doc. Listen, back on Tera Firma if people like you found yourself in a tight spot... we'll you'd call someone like me to come sort it out for ya."

"I don't know if any of you have noticed, but there aren't any cops in the Pegasus Galaxy, so you folks are gonna need to know how to defend yourselves. This is especially pressing now that we'll be engaging in a higher volume of assault missions against the targets of opportunity I've provided Dr. Weir. The relative lack of field medics means that more medical personnel are going to be accompanying our gate teams on those missions to act in that capacity" Sheppard motioned to the medical and scientific personnel assembled around him, "You're right, you're not soldiers. What I'm gonna show you here though might just allow you to stay alive long enough for one of us to come and get ya if you get cut off in a combat situation."

"Today we'll be covering basic small arms operations and tactics. As the week progresses I'll be going over small unit tactics, basic survival skills, hand-to-hand techniques, and for those of you unlucky enough to have the ATA gene you'll also be doing basic flight." Glancing back to Beckett, he nodded down at his weapon, "As for today's lesson, can you tell me what this is Doc?"

Carson looked less than enthusiastic about the young man's to-do list, especially since he was one of the unfortunates in possession of the ATA gene. "A gun?"

"No," Jack smiled as he shook his head slightly, "Ships have guns, Doc. Tanks have guns. _This_ is a weapon. To be precise it's a P-90."

Sheppard hefted the sub-machine gun slightly for everyone to see, "It fires a 5.7mm round at a rate of 900 rounds per minute. It's small profile, light weight, minimal recoil, and heavy rate of fire makes it a perfect close quarter combat weapon. It's specifically designed to penetrate body armor and to punch through light cover. Each cartridge is a full metal jacket with a lead core that has a tendency to tumble upon penetration, causing severe internal injury. It's ambidextrous with no adjustments, carries a fifty round magazine, and will generally ruin the day of anything you point it at."

"That is," Jack flipped the safety off his weapon and, keeping his feet threaded through the lower rung of railing, he leaned all the way back until he was upside down. Pausing for less than a second before he fired off a quick burst, decimating a line of empty soda cans he'd set up on a railing 100 meters down the pier before pulling himself back up into a sitting position with a cocky grin. "If you know how to use it."

Reactivating the safety he tossed the P-90 to Beckett who of course fumbled it. Rolling his eyes Jack slid down from the railing, "Luckily, it's also pretty durable. Let's get started!"

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Elizabeth pulled the zipper up on her jumper and hugged herself against the cool sea air as she stepped out onto the North Pier. The staccato sounds of gunfire echoed across the water carrying with it memories of a cold, wet, stormy night that the doctor really didn't want to dwell on. When she'd left her office she'd assured herself that she just wanted to make sure that the sometimes uncooperative scientific crew weren't giving the Captain a hard time, but the truth was she had been seeking him out more and more often as of late. There was something comforting about having at least one person she didn't, hell couldn't, keep secrets from.

In many ways he knew her better than she knew herself. Apparently gifted with a dual combination of her insightful mind and John's propensity for bluntness, he wasn't shy about letting her know that either.

_John_. Elizabeth didn't even know where to begin unraveling that mess. That was why she had been avoiding him after all. They'd been working together for so long, knew each other so well, she was convinced if she spent too much time around him that he would guess her secret. Every time they talked she was convinced it was written in neon letters across her forehead. It drove her mad to the point of wanting to grab him by the shoulders forcefully and just screaming at the top of her lungs, 'he's our son John!'.

That was a sight the rest of the crew could do without though. As soon as that thought passed though, another equally painful notion always followed in it's footsteps: Would he ever forgive her for keeping this from him? Would he understand that she simply couldn't deal with it all at once? The idea of not just having a child, but _his_ child? The worst part of it all was the knowledge that had their roles been reversed, Dr. Weir knew that Sheppard would have told her.

He would have been awkward, clumsy, and joking the entire time, but he would have told her.

She was snatched from her revere by the sound of laughter as she approached the small group. Jack thumped Carson on the back enthusiastically, smiling from ear to ear as he congratulated the Doctor. For his part Carson looked exceptionally pleased with himself as he handed the P-90 back to the still grinning Captain. Another joke she was out of earshot for had the group erupting again as Sheppard handed the weapon off to Zelenka. That's when it hit her, the real difference between her son and his father - he was John without the filter.

He was gregarious and outgoing where John always found a way to hold something back, some part of himself that was always unreachable. Even to her. Heightmeyer thought it had something to do with Jack being surrounded by the specter of death for most of his life, that at least subconsciously he believed every day could be his last. He wasn't afraid to form personal bonds with people, to lay down roots. For him this was home and it always had been.

Catching sight of her as she approached, Jack smiled warmly as he tossed her a wave. "Doctor Weir, to what do I owe this honor?"

"Just making sure no harm was coming to my hapless scientists Captain." Elizabeth couldn't help it, he was as easy to banter with as John was.

"Ah. Well, they're not so hapless anymore, are ya?" Jack bumped his shoulder into Carson's as both men chuckled, "But I can assure you we haven't had so much as a boo-boo. Everyone is being exceptionally careful, because class..."

"Bullets bounce!" Came the reply from the assembled group, causing even Elizabeth to laugh out loud.

"Exactly!" Retrieving his weapon and shouldering the pack of extra ammunition the Captain nodded, "On that note, I'm sick of your faces. Go on! Git! See everyone in the gym tomorrow at 1100 hours for hand-to-hand training."

Falling into step with Jack as the class dispersed, Elizabeth snagged the backpack from his shoulder with an accusing mock glare. "You're not supposed to be exerting yourself Captain."

"Yes ma'am." He sure had his father's knack for looking like a scolded puppy.

"I have to say I'm impressed. I thought for sure you'd meet with more resistance than that! You had them eating out of your hand."

Jack's smile could have been filed away under the caption 'cocky' in the dictionary, "Case you forgot, my mother was a diplomat."

"I suppose you have a point there," She couldn't quite hide the blush such comments always inspired. "Still, with a few exceptions the military and the civilians on Atlantis remain self-segregated for the most part."

"Aw, they're not so bad once you get used to them being able to cuss you out in seven languages." Jack leaned in conspiratorially, "Shoulda seen Doctor Chow's face when I not only understood her little tirade, but responded with Ancient phrases that woulda made Lorne blush."

Elizabeth did her best to look scandalized rather than amused, "Please don't tell me that I taught you how to curse in Ancient."

"'Course not." He smiled, "You can blame Uncle Jack and Daniel for that one."

"You know," Elizabeth folded her hands behind her back, "You still haven't explained to me how you ended up named after General O'Neill."

Rounding the corner before the transporter, he shook his head at the memory. "He took over after dad died. The IOA fought hard to have you shipped back to Earth because of your 'condition', but Uncle Jack had apparently racked up quite a few favors with the President and made sure that didn't happen. Even got 'em to allow me to stay after I was born. I suppose you wanted some way to thank him for all he'd done for us."

"That sounds like General O'Neill." Stepping into the transporter, Elizabeth couldn't help but return the young man's smile. "You two were close?"

"To Uncle Jack? Hell yeah. He was my favorite babysitter, always let me stay up late watching Simpsons with him. I guess you could say he filled in the blanks... I mean, you never did get around to...," Jack sighed, "I didn't exactly have any step dads."

Elizabeth's brow quirked slightly, "Do you regret that?"

"Not really." For his part, the Captain was starting to look a bit uncomfortable. He only got this way when discussing his father and it bothered Elizabeth that the whole thing seemed to cause him pain. "I had a lot of male influences growing up. Uncle Jack, Daniel, Cam, even Rodney! I had a bigger family than most kids could ever dream of. It would have been more for you than me."

Coming to a stop in the hall Jack made sure no one was around before continuing in a low voice, "I remember coming into our quarters so many times to find you crying... alone. You'd hide the picture and put on your brave face, but it must have been harder for you than me. I never knew the guy. You did, and you lost him. Couple that with the fact that dear ol' dad took on a mythic proportion after his death... it would have been sacrilegious for anyone on Atlantis to make a move on his widow. Maybe if you'd had someone... it would have been easier for you."

She couldn't speak for a long time, just standing in the hall silently imagining how cold and dark that future really would have been for her. After all this time, to finally have John just to lose him so senselessly... frankly she was surprised it hadn't broken her completely. Perhaps having Jack, a very real piece of John that she could cling to, had allowed her to keep moving forward. Elizabeth supposed that was the reason she hadn't talked to him about this yet. Some small part of herself seemed convinced she might be better off never knowing what it would be like if he was going to leave her behind.

Catching sight of the shadows dancing behind her eyes brought a flood of painful memories to the younger Sheppard. How many nights had he seen that look as she stared out the window while the rain came down in sheets outside? "You already love him... don't you?"

She could only nod numbly as she swiped an uncharacteristic tear away from her eye, "I guess I do."

With one last look around the hall Jack stepped forward and wrapped his arms tightly around his mother, her scent calming his nerves as it always had. He was a little surprised when she returned the gesture, clutching for purchase against his uniform. "Don't worry. I'm here now... and he's not going anywhere."

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T.B.C

Author's note: That should be the last of the set-up for a while. I'm sure everyone will be happy we're moving on to the meat of the story. You can expect a lot more action and plot development over the next few chapters as we see the characters adjusting to the new reality of their situation and meet their new adversaries (as well as a few old ones).

I've gotta say though, the number of reviews this thing is getting is way out of proportion to the number of people who've set alerts and favorites for it. So all you folks out there who aren't reviewing need to tell me what you think before I do something crazy like hold the next chapter hostage. So tell me what you like or don't like about the story already!


	5. Chapter 5

Title- A Moment in Time  
Chapter- 5/?  
Author- Dekardkain  
Date- 10/22/09  
Rating- M  
Category- AU, S/W romance, action.  
Archiving- Would be an honor, just ask.  
Warnings- Violence/consensual sex  
Disclaimers- I don't own this, no money, yadda yadda.

Summary: An unexpected arrival brings new hope to Atlantis

Chapter 5 - "Old Wounds and New Beginnings"

"Sheppard." Rodney frowned in obvious irritation as he scratched at the beard he'd been too busy to shave over the last three weeks. "Sheppard? Oh for God's sake... SHEPPARD!"

There was a scraping sound on the other end of the comm followed by a dull thud and some muttered cursing, "McKay? What the hell is so important that you..."

"Just get down to command right now Colonel! McKay out." Threading his fingers together behind his head, Rodney made a show of leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up onto Elizabeth's desk. Only his recent accomplishment and the many sleepless nights Weir knew had lead up to it allowed her to ignore the action with a good-natured smirk. That and the fact she'd been up for nearly forty-eight hours and was just too tired to yell at him properly. The fact she couldn't remember the last time she'd stopped to ingest anything that didn't contain copious amounts of caffeine was punctuated as her stomach growled at her in protest.

Taking a sip of her now lukewarm coffee she glanced between the preening scientist and the soldier beside him shaking his head in amusement. "No problems at all Major?"

"No ma'am," Lorne nodded enthusiastically, "Total milk run. Same as every other time we've done it. Looks like Doctor McKay solved our problem."

"Try not to sound so surprised Major." Rodney rolled his eyes, "To borrow a phrase from Sheppard - I'm batting a thousand in Pegasus."

Evan coughed pointedly.

"Alright, maybe not a thousand." He shrugged, "But I'd imagine it's very respectable. All-Star material even."

Elizabeth blamed the late hour for the chuckle that leaked out as she propped her elbows on the desk and rested her chin on her folded hands. She just wished John would get here so she could get to bed and try to put the last month behind her. Hopefully slipping back into the old routine would allow all of them some much needed normalcy. It might even go a long way to easing the tension between her and a certain military commander. "Good work Rodney. I'm amazed it only took you a month."

"Actually," Elizabeth was pretty sure she'd never seen the man look smugger, which was saying something. "It took three weeks, five days, eleven hours, and twenty six minutes. A time period where yes, I rarely stopped to eat, drink, sleep.."

"Bathe," Lorne interjected with a smirk.

"Oh, ha ha." Rodney was in far too good a mood to let that overgrown G.I. Joe steal his thunder, "The point is that the power systems are not only repaired but with some help from yours truly and replacing the ten thousand year old equipment with schnazzy new Ancient tech, we've actually managed to improve our distribution network by forty-five percent."

McKay glanced pointedly at Lorne, "Less gas to make things go boom-boom."

"Most importantly," Elizabeth intervened before either could continue bating the other, noticing a sudden flurry of movement in Command from the corner of her eye."It means we can resume gate travel and communication with the SGC."

"Most importantly," Rodney looked positively serene, "It means Zelenka was _wrong_. Not that the Gate travel thing isn't just fantastic, but it's really secondary at this point... possibly even tertiary if you consider the new power efficiency and..."

He trailed off as he noticed Dr. Weir tilting her head to gaze around him out the window of her office. It took Rodney a moment to downshift from his speech before he too registered the surprised mutterings of the crew in the control room. A gravely voice still thick with sleep carried up along with the soft thudding of bare feet across the deck, "So... no emergency then? Fantastic. At ease everyone, just a cranky guy with a gun here."

"McKay!" John growled as he made his way across the catwalk and into the Elizabeth's office. The good doctor's already exhausted nervous system was so busy trying to figure out if it should laugh or drool that she failed to notice him run a hand over the door controls before blacking out the walls of her office with his mind. For his part, Sheppard seemed torn between mortified embarrassment and the obvious desire to pummel the scientist currently wilting under his glare. Weir had thought John in uniform was intimidating, but seeing him standing here now she knew she'd been wrong.

He'd obviously run here from his room, a thin sheen of sweat glistened across his exposed shoulders and arms while his face was flushed with equal measures of exertion and anger. Passing the hand not holding his side arm through hair that was even more unruly than usual, John rocked back and forth slightly on his bare feet as his toes curled and uncurled in agitation. "Rodney... you've got about three seconds to tell me why you woke me up at two in the morning like the damn city was about to explode."

Elizabeth wondered what McKay's expression looked like, but to find out she'd have to look away from John's bare chest. It didn't seem like that was going to happen anytime soon. She took her time running her eyes from his sculpted arms all the way to the black sweatpants hanging dangerously low on his hips. Only Rodney's stuttered reply offered her a bucket of water cold enough to jerk her back to the present. "I... uh, well the Gate! Yes. Yes the Gate! It's back on line and I thought... well, actually I _didn't_ think that you'd assume the worst and... where's your shirt?"

John rolled his eyes as he set his pistol down on her desk lest he be tempted to use it. "Didn't think I'd assume the worst? I haven't had a status update in more than a week! I didn't know what to assume!"

She cringed guiltily at that. Using the lack of missions as an excuse Elizabeth had been putting off their daily briefings for the time being. "I'm sorry Colonel, I didn't know the repairs were going to be completed this quickly. I should have kept you in the loop."

"Well, it sure would have prevented... _this_." John motioned to himself with a frustrated sigh. "Alright, I'll take my team through in the morning so we can make sure everything's as it should be."

"That won't be necessary sir." Lorne smiled at his commanding officer, figuring he could at least lift his spirits by pointing out he'd taken care of the grunt work. "Doctor Weir had me take a quick trip and it all checks out. We're good to go sir."

Colonel Sheppard was quiet for a long time, his body eerily still after the barely contained energy of a few moments before. When his voice finally broached the silence it was startlingly devoid of emotion. "Give us the room."

"Sir?" Evan quirked an eyebrow.

"You and McKay need to find somewhere else to be Major." John glowered at their apparent inaction, "Now!"

"Yes sir." Lorne yanked the sputtering scientist to his feet and had them out of the room in a few seconds.

Elizabeth waited for the door to close before rising behind her desk, her exhaustion quickly giving way to irritation. "What was the meaning of that John?"

"Oh, so it's John now?" The Colonel practically spit the words, storming forward until only a few feet of desktop separated them. "Not Colonel? I thought you'd stopped calling me John right around the time you stopped including me in the day-to-day running of this city!"

She knew he was right, she really did. The problem was the fact that admitting it would mean admitting the real reason why she'd been avoiding him. Deciding the best defense was a good offense, Elizabeth placed both hands on the desk and leaned forward. "I didn't realize you'd take a schedule reorganization so personally. If it's that big a deal to you then I'm sure we can figure something..."

John cut her off with a wave of his hand. "It's not that and you know it! You've been avoiding me for weeks, finding excuses -and some pretty lame ones at that- to avoid our meetings. You leave a room when I walk in. It's getting ridiculous!"

"I was willing to ignore it. I really was!" He was shaking his head, jaw twitching as he tried to figure out the right words. It was becoming increasingly hard for Elizabeth to stay sufficiently mad at him with the tension radiating off his body making her own thrum in response. She was convinced the only reason her knees hadn't given out yet was the fact her hands were still firmly anchored on her desk. There was just something about John Sheppard in a full blown rage that she found... enticing? Especially shirtless, which she thought was a nice touch. Elizabeth shook her head as if the action could dislodge the image. "I mean if I've done something to piss you off, and let me assure you that you wouldn't be the first, that's fine. Don't want to see me? We'll limit our interaction as much as possible..."

"It's not that John." Elizabeth's voice was barely audible, he apparently didn't hear it as he continued his rant. She knew this was her fault but this wasn't the way she wanted to tell him. It would be hard enough to explain without him already being angry at her to begin with.

"But when you start cutting me out of the loop when it comes to the running of this expedition then it's gone too far!" The Colonel nodded as if agreeing with himself while stepping back from her desk, "Whatever your feelings are I'd say I've at least earned that much. You have no business assigning my men without consulting me! Especially when you know I'd want to check the Gate out for myself before risking any of them!"

"Whatever _this_," He motioned back and forth between them, "Is, we need to get it straightened out or you need to find yourself a new commander. Because if it's interfering with the operations of the city then lives are at stake. You've said it yourself Elizabeth, we don't have the luxury of..."

John trailed off slowly, his jaw hanging slack as he took in the woman before him. All the anger was sapped from him in an instant at the sight as he stepped quickly around the desk and rested a hand on her upper arm. Whatever he'd done must have been effecting her more than he'd realized, and the though caused him to curse himself. Her mask never slipped like this. Not even when Kolya... he stropped that thought in it's tracks. "'Lizabeth... what the hell is going on here?"

She huffed indignantly as she swiped at her cheeks. Elizabeth had promised herself that she wasn't going to break down like this. That she wasn't going to let this effect their friendship, or even more importantly the working relationship that so many lives depended on. She'd obviously failed miserably at both and the thought was simply too much to deal with at this point. Both she and John were integral cogs in the machinery of Atlantis, and they were needed now more than ever as they stepped from the frying pan and into the fire to try and stop their enemies before they could destroy them all. "Nothing John. It's just the stress."

Sheppard's eyes softened as he guided her down into her chair, a hand on each of her shoulders as he dropped down to a knee to meet her eye level. "Alright, that's a start. We both know it's bullshit... but it's still a start."

"You can't imagine what it's like John." She couldn't look at him and keep it together, so she exercised an old diplomatic trick as she focused on a spot just above his head. "To know all that I do about the future... about _our_ future and what's coming."

"No. I don't 'Lizbeth." John sighed as he leaned back on his heels and rested his hands atop his knees. "Because you won't _let_ me understand."

Shaking her head vehemently Elizabeth tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. "It's not that simple. The worst thing that could come out of this would be for us to start second-guessing our every move. To let fear of the future prevent us from taking chances that might prove necessary to our survival!"

He nodded slowly, "I understand that and you know that I agree with you."

"I do! Believe me I do John." She finally met his eyes, his easy smile ironically only making the lump worse. Elizabeth wanted so badly to tell him the truth but decided a half-truth was the best she could hope for right now. "You have no idea how much that support means to me either. I... rely on you John. Perhaps too much sometimes."

It was his turn to look at his shoes with that silly little smile that always reminded her of a little boy receiving praise from his teacher. "Well... ditto. Which is kinda why this is so hard to understand."

"If we've learned anything by dealing with less technologically advanced civilizations, it's that too much knowledge can be a very dangerous thing," She paused for a moment, hoping he didn't take this the wrong way, "Especially in the wrong hands John."

"But that's my point 'Lizbeth," He shrugged, for the first time letting his hurt slip through the practiced 'Sheppard Mask of Indifference'. "I've never been considered the 'wrong hands' before. At least not by you. You've trusted me with everything until this."

The pain in his eyes nearly broke her heart. It reminded her so much of when they'd finally arrived in Sanctuary after what for him had been half a year of exile. This was the John Sheppard who believed he wasn't good enough for his own people to care about enough to save. Who distanced himself from people to prevent even the possibility of being hurt. Elizabeth shook her head lightly, her hair fanning out to frame her face as she placed a hand on his bare shoulder. The simple action sent a spark rocketing to areas that were feeling sorely neglected at this particular moment. "I do trust you. I will _always_ trust you John. Never allow yourself to believe otherwise."

He locked eyes with her for nearly a minute before nodding slowly, "Okay. I believe you. But can't you at least tell me why?"

The movement of her hand from his shoulder to a stubbled cheek was almost unconscious, "To... to protect you John."

"Protect me?" The Colonel looked torn between amusement and something else Elizabeth couldn't quite identify. His eyes closed as he nuzzled, equally unconsciously, further into her palm, his nostrils flaring slightly as his nose neared her pulse point. "Protect me from what 'Lizbeth? I already know about my untimely demise."

The words, especially spoken so cavalierly, sent a spike of dread shooting straight to her gut. _His untimely demise_... If they didn't find some way to prevent it John Sheppard didn't have long to live, and that thought was the reason she hadn't been able to get more than a few hours of sleep at a time in nearly a month. This time however, it brought something new along with it - desperation. The need to make sure that things wouldn't be left undone or unsaid. "It's not safe and you know it. What if telling you changes things? What if it's the very reason you make a decision that costs you your life? I couldn't live with being responsible for that John..."

"But what if you're wrong? What if knowing something would allow me to avoid the danger when the time comes?" John's brow furrowed as he tilted his head to one side in irritation, "I _hate_ time travel! You know, this isn't exactly fair. Here we have information that could theoretically allow us to beat the Wraith, or at least give us a serious advantage, and yet we're not allowed to..."

"Shhhh." Hoping her bemused smile didn't further irritate him Elizabeth placed her index finger gently over his lips. It occurred to her, and not for the first time, that the man had unnaturally nice lips. Quirking a brow in amusement at his befuddled look she pressed on, "Believe me when I say that I have a very good idea how frustrating this can be. I'll make you a deal that might take some of the sting out of it though."

"A deal?"

"If you'll trust me on this one point, trust that I will tell you when the time is right," She nodded slowly, her finger now trailing idly along the line of his jaw, "Then I'll tell you a secret that no one else knows."

Letting his eyes fall closed again John had to fight hard to control the groan of pleasure threatening to escape as her hand glided from just below his ear into the short hairs on the back of his neck. Realizing only when her soft laughter broke the spell that she was waiting for him to respond he sputtered in a very un-Sheppard like fashion. "A secret, huh? Sounds like it could be interesting..."

"Oh, it's very interesting." Suddenly her slack fingers were buried in the hair at the back of his head, tugging him forward insistently. It wasn't the kind of first kiss John Sheppard was used to. Despite being the one to initiate it Elizabeth was cautious to the point of being timid as the warm softness of her lips grazed lightly over his own, teasing him with the promise of more to come. The soft sound she was making the only indication of the passion lurking underneath her uncertainty.

It took him a few moments before the reality of the situation really took hold: Elizabeth Weir was making a move on him. _She was kissing him_. That realization was apparently just enough to hard-boot his brain. Running his own hands up to her neck, John pulled her forward to the edge of her chair as his tongue danced out to skim over her upper lip. Taking her soft moan as an open invitation he pushed past the sweet barrier of her lips, pleased beyond reason as she readily matched his intensity, pulling back only to grab a desperate breath as she nibbled his bottom lip.

"'Lizbeth...," He finally released that earlier groan as her knees tightened against his flanks to keep him firmly in place, as if he'd actually considered pulling away. Her hands were skimming unashamedly over the soft hair of his chest as she nibbled her way down his neck, her tongue darting out every few inches to taste the heated skin along the way. She vaguely wondered where this intense need to be as close to him as possible had come from, but decided now wasn't really the time to be examining it. Not when she had much more pleasurable tasks to attend to.

"Wow." John murmured as he brought her back to him for another searing kiss, one hand firmly on her chin while the other dove carelessly into the incredible softness of her hair, "I _really_ never see this coming."

She just smirked slightly as she framed his face with her fingertips, the feeling of her breath now mixing with John's was far more erotic than it probably should have been considering the fact neither had brushed their teeth recently. "I thought you military types were always prepared?"

"Hmm, I'm pretty sure that's the Boy Scouts." Sheppard was just beginning to weigh the pros and cons of shoving everything off her desk and putting it to more immediate use when the door to her office began chiming insistently. Under other circumstances it might have been funny the way they flew apart like a couple of teenagers busted on the couch when her parents came home early. As it was they were simply staring at each other, flushed and more than a little aroused why they tried desperately to catch their breath and school their traitorous responses. John cursed the fact he'd failed to toss a shirt on before bolting from his quarters as he was pretty sure he had a hickey.

Straightening her clothes and hair quickly Elizabeth cleared her throat before raising her voice enough to be heard through the door. "Come."

John couldn't help the dopey smirk that erupted at her choice of phrase, "Well, I was trying when we were..."

"John!" She tried to give him her best long-suffering look but as always it shifted into open amusement as she quickly turned to face the door, lowering her voice for his ears only, "Down boy."

The door slid open to reveal an equally disheveled and apparently irritated Jack Sheppard, his sidearm still in his hand for the simple reason he hadn't had time to grab his holster as he bolted to Command at Rodney's message. "So... no emergency then?"

Elizabeth couldn't help but smirk slightly at the young man's wild hair, black Air Force tank top, and blue scrub pants he'd obviously procured from the infirmary. That is until she noticed the scars peaking out on his exposed shoulders and arms. She supposed the way her heart clenched slightly was simple maternal instinct, but without any previous experience she wasn't entirely sure. It was eerie the way he was mimicking John's earlier actions, rocking back and forth on his bare feet in obvious agitation.

"Sorry," Jack stood up a bit straighter as he nodded to both of them in turn, "Colonel. Ma'am."

"You can relax Captain." Elizabeth's smile nearly split her face in half. _Like father like son_. "Atlantis is safe. Doctor McKay was just a little sleep deprived and anxious to share the good news."

"Ah...," The hand not occupied holding his blaster began scratching wearily at the base of his neck, "Looks like I need to explain to the good doctor that there are two Sheppards now. It would probably be a good idea to specify a rank when using the city-wide frequency. Especially at two in the morning."

John nodded in agreement, "Oh, don't worry Captain. Rodney and I are gonna have a long talk about radio etiquette after tonight."

His gaze trailed noticeably down to the weapon in his son's hand, "I can't believe Ronon let you use his blaster!"

"Sir?" Jack followed his eyes for a second before realizing what the older man was talking about, "Oh. No sir. This one is mine, I brought it through the Gate with me."

John cast a despondent glance at Elizabeth she clearly interpreted as 'not fair' before groaning audibly, "Just where the hell did you get one?"

Though he was smirking slightly at his father's obvious ire, Jack's eyes darkened noticeably as he replied, "I shot the guy who was pointing it at me, sir. Didn't appear he needed it anymore."

It was comments like that, and the looks that always accompanied them that made Elizabeth wonder exactly how many people her son had been forced to kill over the years. She knew first hand the way it effected John and it pained her to see that look on the face of someone so very young.

Colonel Sheppard seemed to be having the same thought as he forced a smile, "Well kid, it looks like there's no one who needs shooting tonight, so go get some rest. Rodney's got the Gate fixed so I imagine Major Lorne's team will be briefing early tomorrow morning."

"Yes sir." Most of Jack's anger seemed to fade at the news the Gate was up and running and they could now get back to work. "Just as soon as I have a little talk with McKay sir."

He was nearly to the door when something occurred to John, "Um, Captain? You might wanna drop off the blaster before confronting him."

"Hm," Jack seemed to consider that for a moment before smiling dangerously, "No sir... I think it might just help crack the military-scientist language barrier."

Both John and Elizabeth glanced at each other as he exited the room, clearly hoping that was a joke.

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The F-602 shuddered violently as yet another burst of flak exploded far too close for comfort. Pulling the fighter into a tight arc, Captain Sheppard spotted his target just a few klicks off to starboard. "Red flight this Red lead calling the shot. We have three Corethi troop transports setting down twelve klicks due west of the mountains. I'm transmitting the coordinates to your HUDs now. Our guys are takin' a beating down there boys and we don't need any more guests crashin' this party. Form up, stay on the deck, watch the triple-A, and lets bring those bastards down!"

Running a quick eye over his readouts to make sure the flight had properly formed up, Sheppard cracked his neck in a vain effort to ease the growing tension between his shoulder blades as he armed missiles. The trees just a few meters below them were streaking by too fast to make out individually, the ground below blurring into a solid carpet of greens and browns as they closed the distance to their target faster than the speed of sound. Projectile fire joined the persistent flak as they cleared the tree line and spread out to assault the transports setting down on the valley floor beneath them, a 602 on Sheppard's left flank suffered a direct hit to it's fuselage and slammed into the deck with a roar that shook the glass of his cockpit.

"We lost Sampson!" Lieutenant Redford's voice crackled across the comm, "It's too hot down there sir! We've got the better part of a division assembling in that valley!"

"It'll be two divisions if we don't take out those transports Carl!" Jack's growled reply was punctuated as he let loose a pair of missiles before veering off to avoid another volley of anti-aircraft fire.

What the Corethians lacked in advanced technology they made up for in sheer numbers and industrial capacity. Their technology wouldn't allow them to bypass the stealth systems of the 602s, so they'd simply replaced their useless SAMs with thousands upon thousands of old-fashioned flak cannons. Sure, the Tau'ri Alliance averaged a 15-1 kill ratio in every one of their engagements, but the Corethi Expansion Forces could absorb losses three times that high and just keep coming. Their severely overpopulated galaxy simply provided ever more souls for the conquest of new 'breathing room', no matter how many the citizens of the Milky Way managed to kill. In fact, by slaughtering so many they might have actually been helping them in their goal to thin their population even before the colonization began - they were able to kill two birds with one stone.

They'd been shocked that the squat humanoids even had the capacity to travel between galaxies until they found out they'd simply stolen the engines from one of their many conquests. The Corethian people didn't so much produce technologies of their own, but they showed a remarkable ability and ingenuity at backwards engineering other races' advances. Rodney called them 'intergalactic locusts', but Jack was pretty sure he'd stolen that from a movie.

Besides, they didn't look like insects, they looked more like rejects from the _Planet of the Apes_. Jack was perfectly aware that he wasn't exactly hairless himself, but still... ew. Their stilted and gutteral language was, at least according to Dr. Jackson, probably best described as 'a bastardization of German and Klingon being spoken by a stroke victim with peanut butter in their mouth while suffering from a horrible headcold.'

Their population problem was a direct result of the fact they had never evolved out of the 'litter' phase of physical development. A single pregnancy only lasted four months and on average produced six to ten offspring. Unlike on Earth, the planet they'd evolved on hadn't suffered a cataclysmic asteroid impact or ice age to kill off their version of dinosaurs. In order for the small mammalian race to survive and thrive in such circumstances they had to breed like tribbles. Even after they became intelligent enough to do to the dinosaurs what we did to the woolly mammoths and saber tooth tigers, their birthrates remained the same. Without the presence of those massive predators to keep the population in check, it had quickly ballooned to staggering proportions.

When they stumbled across the Milky Way just as their own galaxy was reaching the crisis point it seemed like a perfect opportunity. Decimated from more than a decade of devastating war with the Goa'uld, the Replicators, and eventually the Ori, it seemed a target ripe for an easy conquest. When the SGC was made aware of the invasion they did everything they could think of to achieve a diplomatic solution - from offering to find uninhabited planets for them to colonize to genetic solutions to lowering their birth rates to a more manageable level. They never even responded. They swept across the galaxy like an intergalactic steam roller, crushing anything unlucky or stupid enough to stand in it's way. They destroyed entire Corethi battle groups just to have three more take their place. As their own numbers grew ever fewer, theirs seemed completely inexhaustible.

With Earth's defenses spread out among the cosmos trying in vain to stem the tide, the Wraith had seized the opportunity to finally make a successful attack on the Tau'ri home world. All they got for their triumph was one crispy planet formerly home to seven billion human beings and the loss of their invasion fleet to the Corethi shortly after. They were as doomed as the people of Earth the moment the Corethi engineers pulled information on the Pegasus galaxy from one of their captured computer cores - they just didn't realize it yet. They all knew once the bastards were done mopping up the Milky Way they would undoubtedly do the same to Pegasus, and by causing such catastrophic damage to Earth they had crippled the best if not only hope of defeating them.

Jack was snapped back from his revere as the troop transport he'd been targeting erupted in flames a few hundred meters above the ground, screeching like a wounded bird as it plummeted to the earth below, taking a large number of the assembling troops and their ground vehicles down on the plain along with it. His moment of triumph was short lived as the 602 directly to port lost a wing to the ceaseless flak and spun in. Adrenalin pounding through his veins, Sheppard switched over to the command frequency with a shaking hand. "Red lead to _Leonidas_ - we're gettin' chewed up something fierce down here General! Where the hell are Teal'c's reinforcements?!"

"Sorry Sheppard, looks like the Free Jaffa fleet was intercepted before they could get here." General Cameron Mitchell's voice was grim, and Jack could clearly make out explosions in the background. "We're pulling back Captain. Sorry kid, the Gamma Site is toast."

Jack slammed a closed fist into his canopy with enough force to crack a few knuckles. They'd already lost so many people defending the damned place! Just the idea of handing the planet over to those scum...

"General, we have two more troop transports on the ground and spilling out into the valley!" Taking a quick screenshot of his display, he routed the image to the _Leonidas_ in orbit. "If those assholes get to our boys on the ground they aren't going to have time to evacuate everyone through the Gate before they're overrun. There's a small canyon to the east at grid Alpha Tango Zero Niner, they'll have to funnel through to reach the battle, suggest you slag it from orbit to buy our troops some time to fall back."

There was a long pause before Cameron managed to reply and even when he did the signal was cutting in and out at random intervals. "We'd love to help out Captain but we lost weapons in that last volley. The _Gagarin_ and the _Yakagi_ have already been forced to withdraw, so it's just us and the _Churchill_ between the ground and the rest of that fleet. You'd better get your squadron up here quick-like or you might not have a ride home!"

Thinking quickly was something Jack Sheppard happened to excel at, especially after spending the better part of the week getting shot up over this rock. "Red Flight, you heard the General. RTB immediately and you'd better move like you've got a purpose people!"

As the rest of the squadron broke for atmo, Jack's fighter spun into a tight 180 and headed back in the direction of the battle. Alexandra cut across his comm and the tone of her voice caused him to cringe slightly, "Captain? Are you having navigation difficulties? You appear to be flying in the wrong direction."

"Alex, one thing you need to understand about American men is that we don't like leaving a battle unfinished." Descending in a slow arc he was finding that dodging the flak was much more difficult when you were the only target in the sky. The canyon was visible a few klicks to the north winding through the cragy range shoved skyward by ancient tectonic activity. A large explosion beneath his fighter slammed him into the side of the cockpit, a decent portion of his readouts going dark in the process. "Fuck!"

"Do you require assistance Captain?" Jack hadn't thought his exclamation had gone out over the comm, but the worried tone of Kharkov's voice said otherwise.

Shaking his head to clear his vision Sheppard fought the now sluggish controls in a desperate bid to keep his bird level. "Get your asses to the _Leonidas_ already. That's an order Lieutenant!"

Before she could respond General Mitchell's voice spilled across the channel, also sounding less than pleased. "Uhhh Captain? What part of 'we have to get the hell out of here' didn't compute for you?"

"Sir, we'll lose everything if we don't find a way to hold up the enemy's advance! I'm already Oscar Mike to the target and I've got enough ordnance left to do the job." Sheppard hoped he was giving off an aura of grim resolve, because in reality he was pretty sure this wasn't going to work. "Jump out when the rest of my birds get to you. After I close that canyon I'll land and head through the Gate with the rest of the evacuees."

"Jack." Mitchell was now using his 'I'm being patient but you're still a moron' tone, "Our scans show you've lost your targeting computer and that bomb is gonna have to be really precise to do what you want it to. Not to mention that tricky not blowing yourself up part that's involved."

"Then I'll use the force!" The Captain was just glad the older man couldn't see his eye roll. It's not like he didn't know this already. "Something tells me you're too busy to be having this conversation right now General, so just let me give it a shot and if I survive you can chew me out thoroughly when we get back to base. Sheppard out!"

Deciding he had enough to deal with without the added distraction, he unplugged his radio and dropped down into position for his bombing run. Without guidance Jack knew he'd have to drop from as close as possible without blowing himself up in the process, which was pretty hard to eyeball at this kind of speed. Bypassing the lockouts initiated when he'd lost his weapons systems he armed the bomb and started counting. Using nothing but memories of the earlier readings, he figured he would be halfway along the canyon when he got to seven. Hugging the ground so closely he almost lost a wing when a particularly tall tree jumped out at him Jack took a deep breath and flipped up the guard on the bomb release. "Yeah, _this_ was a good decision."

Without giving himself a chance to second guess the sanity of his actions he released his payload, slamming the throttle forward and pulling up as hard as he could. It was just enough to outrun the massive explosion below though, which he celebrated with a 'yeehaw' even Cam would have been proud of. The bomb had detonated at the bottom of the canyon, in just the spot he'd been aiming for. Thousands of tons of rocks and debris spilled into the vacuum created by the explosion, effectively sealing the passage for the foreseeable future and hopefully putting a major kink in the Corerthi battle plan.

Unfortunately, his victory dance was cut short rather rudely by more pressing concerns. A thick blanket of triple-A fire erupted in front of him in what should have still been friendly territory on the far side of the canyon. Caught completely off guard he barely had time to react before a loud explosion and searing pain along his lower back signaled all was indeed not well. Jack was vaguely aware of the fact he cleared the edge of the mountains before diving like a brick through water to the valley below. He only had a few seconds to hope he'd land in friendly territory, wherever the hell that was now, before the impact slammed into him like a freight train and the lights went out.

Sheppard could barely breathe as he shot up in bed, clutching desperately at his chest above his jack hammering heart. Despite being bathed in sweat the room seemed to be freezing as he swung his legs over the edge of his bed and snatched the clock with one shaking hand while the other unconsciously stroked the jagged scar running roughly diagonally from the left hip to the base of his spine.

That was the third one tonight, and it was only 0215. It was dumb luck that he and his team had just returned from a five day scouting mission and he had the next two off. As long as the dreams didn't effect his performance, he wouldn't be forced to talk about them with Heightmeyer. He intended to keep it that way.

He eyed the bottle of anti-anxiety meds he'd brought through the Gate with him but decided this was a self-medicating kind of night. Snagging the cobalt blue bottle of Athosian spirits Teyla had given him as a housewarming present, he didn't know what the Athosian tradition was really called, an errant thought tickled the back of his still focusing mind. Retrieving his earpiece from the bedside table, he had Chuck route him directly to Dr. Keller's radio. "Hey Doc, you still gettin' off in fifteen?"

"Yes Captain," He felt a little guilty at the obvious fatigue in her voice but pressed on anyways, "I was just finishing up some reports on those specimens you brought back this morning. Do you need more pain medication?"

_Not the kind you're thinking of Doc._ "No, nothing like that. I... I couldn't sleep. Up for some company?"

"Sure." Jennifer was quiet for a second as she checked the time, "Meet me in the mess in thirty?"

Eying the bottle in his hand, Jack smirked. "I was thinking of something more... intimate. It's a nice night, how about that balcony we had lunch on the other day?"

"Ummm... alright?" Sheppard was encouraged by the humor in her voice, a sharp contrast to the emotions the nightmares had been assaulting him with all night. "Should I bring anything?"

"Just that lovely disposition Doc," Jack drawled as he made his way towards the head. If he was going to do this he definitely needed a quick shower. "I'll swing by the mess on my way and pick us up a late night snack. Any preferences?"

"Something decidedly unhealthy if you wouldn't mind. It's been a long day." Jennifer chuckled slightly and Jack was reminded of what he liked so much about her.

"You read my mind. I'll see ya in thirty Jenn, Sheppard out." Sliding the bottle onto the counter as he activated the shower with a thought, Jack couldn't help but smile. If he played his cards right maybe his mind would have much more pleasant matters to focus on.

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T.B.C

Author's Note - Took a little longer than normal to update this week as I wrestled with a little writer's block. Please let me know what you think, like most authors and cockroaches, I can survive on feedback alone.


	6. Chapter 6

Title- A Moment in Time  
Chapter- 6/?  
Author- Dekardkain  
Date- 11/4/09  
Rating- M  
Category- AU, S/W romance, K/OMC, action.  
Archiving- Would be an honor, just ask.  
Warnings- Violence/consensual sex  
Disclaimers- I don't own this, no money, yadda yadda.

Summary: An unexpected arrival brings new hope to Atlantis

Chapter 6 - "Milk Run"

Elizabeth stepped out of the transporter a simmering ball of barely contained nerves. Doctor Heightmeyer had radioed her twenty minutes earlier saying she needed to see her immediately, and when pressed all she would say was that it involved Sheppard. That had set the butterflies in motion, though they'd now grown to a point that Doctor Weir was starting to wonder if she'd be tasting her breakfast again. That in itself was so unlike her but she couldn't stop the litany bouncing around her brain and taunting her - _she knows, she knows, she knows!_

But how? It had only been a few days since her 'confrontation' with John. Neither had spoken a word about it during their daily interactions concerning the city, falling easily back into their routine as friends and co-workers. In a way she was pleased with that development. She hadn't lied when she told him how much she relies on him. He was her strength, her conscience, and her guard dog all rolled into one lovely uniform-wrapped package. It meant a lot to her that he'd recognized her need for his support and appeared ready to wait for her to make the next move in their relationship.

_Relationship? _

Was that really what this was? Making out for a few minutes in her office did not a relationship make. In the end that was the part that worried her. Was she going to be just another of John Sheppard's intergalactic conquests? As pleasing as that might sound she knew deep down it would never be enough. That, even more so than their positions of authority, had given her pause when considering the possibility of a relationship with the man. A part of her tried to convince herself that this was John, and he would never hurt her. The other reminded her of the John who had gone against her orders, ignored her so readily, for the prospect of a little Ancient nooky.

Sometimes he was just... such a... a _man_!

Reaching the door to Heightmeyer's office she took a moment to consciously school her features before stepping over the threshold with the most self-assured smile she could muster. "You needed to see me?"

"Thank you for taking the time Doctor Weir," Kate motioned to the overstuffed chair on the other side of her desk, "I know with the Gate up and running again you must be very busy. I promise I wouldn't have dragged you away if I didn't think it was important."

Elizabeth nodded as she took the offered seat, folding her hands primly in her lap. "Please Kate, I think we've worked together long enough to dispense with the formalities. You said this had something to do with John?"

"Oh?" It took a minute for the psychologist to realize her mistake, "Oh! I'm sorry. I should have clarified that I was speaking about _Captain_ Sheppard. Hmm... this is going to take some getting used to."

"Yes, it is." Elizabeth agreed readily. Trying to mask the intense relief she felt at that moment Dr. Weir leaned forward in her chair. "Is something wrong with Jack?"

Kate weighed her words carefully before responding, obviously afraid to make a straight determination at this point. "Not so much 'wrong', though I do feel there might be some cause for concern. As you know I spoke with him yesterday in order to clear him for off-world assignments."

"Is he finding the adjustment difficult?"

"Surprisingly enough, no." Heightmeyer was more than pleased to start off on a positive note. "He admitted to being frustrated that he was no longer in command of his own team but seemed to understand the politics behind the decision. He has after all been dealing with the inner machinations of the military for most of his life."

Elizabeth's mouth quirked up in her patented half-smile, "He appears to have no problem making friends either."

"I suppose that was to be expected. From his perspective he's known many of them for his entire life." The Doctor tilted her head as something occurred to her, "It must be very odd for him to know them so well despite having 'just met'."

"As you said, he appears to be handling it very well." Elizabeth was still unaccustomed to feeling pride in a child she hadn't had yet, but there it was.

"I agree." The psychologist in Kate hadn't missed the woman's positively glowing response either and filed it away for future reference. "Carson has a new fishing buddy. Teyla and Ronon have a new sparring partner. And if a particularly spunky Lieutenant is to be believed he's made quite the impression on our young Doctor Keller."

"You've got to be careful about how much faith you put in the Cadman grapevine." Elizabeth chided while chuckling to herself. "However, on this one I'm pretty sure the intel is accurate. I saw the two of them sharing a late dinner the other night."

Heightmeyer shook her head, "He certainly has the Sheppard charm. I'm thinking of taking Rodney's advice and doing a study. Beckett is convinced it's some kind of pheromone."

I_ think it's the eyes._

Elizabeth shook her head in an effort to clear her thoughts, "I seriously doubt you brought me down here to discuss the Captain's social life. Did you find something worrisome in his evaluation?"

"You might say that." Kate appeared torn, shifting in her chair to find a more comfortable position. "Do you remember the last time you came to see me?"

She did indeed. Elizabeth had been so shaken up after the Genii attack that Carson had insisted she meet with Heightmeyer before returning to active duty. "Of course."

"Do you remember what we talked about?" Kate prodded gently, "You told me about the look you saw in Colonel Sheppard's eyes that night in the Gate room. How much it frightened you?"

Elizabeth nodded numbly, her eyes drifting off slightly as she replayed the scene in her mind. "He was so... intense. Kate, he would have killed every one of them with his bare hands if he had to. No hesitation... no remorse. I'd never seen that side of John before."

"I can assure you that Captain Sheppard is," Heightmeyer paused again as she searched for exactly the right words, "He is just as... _capable_, in that respect as his father is. And that's not necessarily an uncommon trait for someone in the military either."

That confused Elizabeth, "Alright. Like you just said though, John exhibits the same personality and you don't consider him a risk."

"That's the problem though," She frowned, "They _do_ have the same personality. Their lives on the other hand have been very different."

"They're born soldiers, it literally seems to be in their blood. There are a few differences I can't really gauge without knowing who his mother is, the mention of which Jack continues to evade at every opportunity, but he does seem to welcome social interaction and attachments more readily than John. They're both brilliant, strong, self-assured, type-A personalities. They're both natural leaders and I don't doubt that either of them would give their lives in a second to save this city or anyone who lives in it."

Elizabeth couldn't stop her brow from quirking as she spread her hands out to each side, "Help me out here Kate. I'm obviously not seeing the problem you're seeing."

"He failed, Elizabeth. At least he believes he did." She sighed deeply, shaking her head in dismay. "Think about it. What do you imagine would happen to Colonel Sheppard if every person on Atlantis, on Earth, every person he's ever come to care about and vowed to protect was dead? Do you think anyone could convince him it wasn't his fault? That he hadn't failed them? That he could ever forgive himself for surviving when they didn't?"

That stopped Weir dead in her tracks. She knew exactly what that would do to John - it was probably the only thing in the galaxy that could break him. He could handle dying and even killing without batting an eye... but watching those he cared about dying and not being able to stop it? She'd seen first hand his reaction to that scenario... and it had scared the hell out of her. "Do you believe he's a danger?"

"To others? No." Kate's unhesitating response lifted Elizabeth's spirits slightly. One thing she could be sure of about the good doctor was that she didn't sugarcoat anything. "To himself? Possibly."

"How so?"

"For all intents and purposes he's been given a second chance to undo that damage Elizabeth." This was why Heightmeyer had called her down in a the first place. Her suspicion wasn't enough to deny the use of such a valuable asset but the expedition leader needed to be aware of the possible dangers inherent in using it. "I believe he'll be alright as long as he views himself as working towards accomplishing that goal. But if someone were to get in his way or to threaten the people he cares about..."

If that happened there would be no stopping him. No order would slow him down. No threat would be too dangerous. No repercussion would be too great. No body count would be to numerous. Elizabeth locked eyes with the woman as she nodded, a deep frown creasing her brow. "Then God help them."

***************************************************************************************************************

"So. The moment you've all been waiting for has finally arrived!" Jack's grin was infectious as he motioned to the eclectic group gathered around the briefing room table and placed a hand sagely on his forehead. "My knowledge of the future is about to start paying off."

"Well, I think I speak for everyone," Rodney glanced around the table as if to confirm his power as group spokesman, "When I say 'it's about freaking time'. Especially considering all the damage you did to the Gate Room getting here. Do you have any Idea how badly my back hurts right now from all those hours hunched over replacing crystal after crystal just to..."

Sitting beside him Carson thwacked him on the back of the head with a rolled folder, scowling. "Let the lad speak Rodney!"

"Hm." John couldn't hide his smirk as he mused aloud, "I never thought about a rolled up newspaper before Doc."

Beckett tossed him a grin, "Ya just have to know how ta deal with an excitable puppy Colonel."

"I've been trying to housebreak him for years." Sheppard shook his head ruefully.

McKay rolled his eyes, "I believe we're here for a briefing?"

Jack coughed into his hand as he grabbed the remote off the table and turned to the wall display, "Sorry, I seem to have gotten sidetracked by all the barking from the gallery."

"I would love to tell you all about the intricate and devious plan that our fearless leaders and I have cooked up to annihilate the Wraith and send the Corethi back to their galaxy with their tails between their legs. Unfortunately, we have some housecleaning to do before we can devote our entire attention to the coming battle." The Captain handed a stack of dark red folders to Elizabeth who took one and passed the rest on down the line until everyone had a copy. "The first ten pages of the brief detail the threats we'll be dealing with in descending order from the most pressing concerns to the minor annoyances. We've been ordered to take care of these while Earth prepares more troops and builds the ships we'll need to give us a fighting chance."

"The second section deals with the Ancient sites we'll be visiting in order to procure technologies crucial to the coming war effort. We'll be primarily focusing on military and industrial tech, but I assure you Colonel that I've also included the locations of all the Ancient ships we managed to find over the years." Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh at John's giddy expression at the mention of the battleships. Jack quirked an eyebrow at her before continuing. "Together, these preliminary steps will put us in a much better position to achieve our objectives than my Atlantis found itself in when the time came to fight."

"Sure takes a lot of the guesswork out of the equation." Major Lorne was characteristically chomping at the bit to get in on the action as he skimmed over the report.

John's eyes lit up as he caught a sketchy diagram of the F-602s that Jack had described to he and Elizabeth in a previous briefing. A curious blending of Gua'uld, Wraith, Ancient, and Human technology. "We are gonna get so many cool new toys!"

"Yes we are, sir." Jack smiled knowingly. He'd drawn that up himself to wet the Colonel's appetite for what would surely be the long and arduous task of finding and backwards engineering everything they'd need before they could actually use those sleek and deadly beauties. "Unfortunately, as always, we have to see to the grunt work first."

Elizabeth put on her best 'getting down to business' look as she folded her hands on the table and leaned forward slightly, "What's first on the to-do list Captain?"

"Glad you asked ma'am." Sheppard pointed the remote over his shoulder without turning around, the image filling the screen causing all the good natured humor to flee the room like it'd been set on fire. "I believe you all know Public Enemy Numero Uno."

"Michael." Teyla practically growled out the word.

"Really?" Ronon looked confused, "This is the biggest threat we have? The guy's barely a nuisance."

"You only believe that because you haven't met these guys yet." Jack pressed a button on the remote and the screen filled with renderings of mutated Wraith. "I'm afraid Michael's inability to blend in to either Wraith or Human society has caused him to go slightly section-8. The long and short of it is that he's establishing research facilities on roughly half a dozen planets to create a new breed of Wraith. Stronger, more powerful, and willing to obey his every command."

"Alright," Ronon tossed his hands up. "I was wrong. This guy has gotta go."

"My thoughts exactly big guy." Jack smiled, "Fortunately, since I have the locations of his bases we should be able to hit him before he has a chance to progress very far along in his research. Believe me folks, you don't wanna run into one of those things in a dark bunker."

"Now...," The Captain trailed off as one of the Gate Room techs entered the room, whispered a few words into Elizabeth's ear before handing her a note and beating a hasty retreat. He waited until she'd finished reading it before breaking the silence, "Ma'am?"

"Nothing very important Captain." She assured them, "Major Lorne?"

Evan straightened in his chair, "Yes ma'am?"

"I'm afraid your team will have to put off your trip to P6X-742. It appears Ladon has requested a meeting on a neutral planet tomorrow."

"Your orders ma'am?" Lorne found it hard to hide his disappointment. P6X-742 was one of their top priorities, an honest to God Ancient weapons depot that Jack's Atlantis hadn't discovered until he was a teenager.

His obvious disappointment wasn't lost on Elizabeth but with John's team tasked with tracking down Michael they were the best alternative. "Just find out what they want Major. I'll leave it to your discretion as far as where it goes from there. If you deem it important enough then by all means bring them back to Atlantis so we can discuss it in person."

"After disarming and thoroughly searching them Major." John's expression left no room for argument.

"Yes sir." Not that Evan wouldn't have done that anyways. You trusted a Genii like you trusted a trained tiger.

"Alright." Jack turned off the screen and brought the lights in the room back up mentally, bringing a slight glare from John who still hadn't gotten the hang of it. "That's it for now. Anyone have any questions?"

"Yeah." No one was surprised when Rodney leaned forward in his chair and rested his arms on the table. "While we're out gallivanting across Pegasus gathering technology and knocking people off your little hit list, what exactly are we supposed to do about the Wraith?"

"Dr. McKay has a point Captain." Teyla's words brought a surprised but obviously pleased smile to Rodney's face. "We cannot assume they will allow us to complete our goals without interference."

"This is the part you're not going to like." Jack frowned, but continued at Elizabeth's nod of encouragement. "As much as we possibly can, we should avoid antagonizing the Wraith."

"In my time line the Wraith were on their way out as a species when the Corethi hit the Milky Way. With our attention on the invasion, they managed to establish a number of breeding facilities in order to replenish their waning ranks. Eventually they attacked Earth, killing more than half the population of the planet in the process."

"Those all sound like good reasons to kill them," Ronon grumbled, "Not for saving them."

Colonel Sheppard nodded in open agreement, "Sitting around and doing nothing isn't going to save this galaxy. We need to take the fight to the enemy."

Jack smirked slightly as he leaned back and knit his fingers behind his head, " 'The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.' "

"True enough." Elizabeth didn't miss the Colonel's raised eyebrow or the look of muted pride he leveled at his son, "But I believe it's also said that 'Invincibility lies in the defense; the possibility of victory in the attack.' "

The Captain's eyebrow quirked up in a near perfect reflection of John, " 'The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting, for there has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited.' "

"Am I missing something?" Ronon grumbled, looking between the men like they'd both sprouted another head.

Elizabeth's mouth quirked up slightly, "They're quoting Sun Tzu. He's considered to be one of the finest military strategists in Earth's history."

"See?" John leaned back in his chair while smiling at her obvious amusement, "I told you I read books."

That earned him the laugh he was looking for, "And I said _The Art of War _doesn't count Colonel."

"How about Nietzsche then?" Jack drummed his pen idly on the conference room table, " ''The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy.' "

"Ouch!" Rodney couldn't contain his chuckle as he slapped the younger man on the back, "Little Sheppard for the win!"

Jack tilted his head slightly, "Like your spleen on the inside McKay?"

Rodney blanched noticeably, "Sorry."

"Just because we avoid the Wraith doesn't mean they won't attack," Ronon assured them.

"You don't understand big guy. They attacked us because they believed we were the greatest threat to them. We need to make sure they see the Corethians as the primary threat. We can allow our two greatest enemies the beat the living crap out of each other while we find a way to defeat them. Think about it, the Ancients were beaten by the Wraith for the same reason we were beaten by the Corethi Military - lack of manpower compared to an enemy that can breed like rabbits."

"The Wraith are the perfect weapon to turn on the Corethi invasion force. They're the only ones who can possibly hope to compete in a war of attrition."

"And as long as the Wraith are fighting their new enemy, they aren't feeding on the innocent people of this galaxy." Teyla pointed out with a tilt of her head.

"I still believe the Wraith will lose the war, but they may just slow down the Corethians long enough for us to figure out a way to bring them down." Jack glanced at Elizabeth who rose from her seat at his nod.

"Alright people, we've all got jobs to do." She smiled and spread her hands, "Lets get to it."

The room emptied quickly, Carson and Rodney to get back to their research, Ronon and Teyla to start prepping for their mission. Only John hung back to speak to Elizabeth, which made Jack smirk slightly as he fell into step next to his CO.

His brow creased as he noticed the Major's expression. "Something wrong sir?"

"Nothing. It's just that this is the story of my life." Lorne rolled his eyes while shaking his head slightly, "They get to save the galaxy and I get the diplomatic milk run."

***************************************************************************************************************

_Thwap_!

Jack frowned as he flattened yet another over-sized mosquito rather wetly against the base of his neck. Swiping the gooey remains away from his skin with a growl he turned to face Major Lorne, "Sir? How long are we gonna sit on our hands waiting for these people?"

"Not much longer." Despite the heat Evan rolled his sleeves down, also getting tired of the incessant insect bites. "The code used to summon us here was the one we gave to Ladon and the Genii. Doctor Weir was pretty insistent that we find out what's going on."

"I get that sir, but we've been here for six hours and we haven't seen anything that hasn't tried to suck our blood." Sheppard took a cue from his commanding officer and rolled his own sleeves back down, adding a mental reminder to start bringing insect spray with him on missions. "If it was so damned important you'd think they would be in a hurry to get here."

The Major considered that for a moment before checking his watch and nodding in agreement. "We're scheduled to contact Atlantis anyways. Pack it in guys. Doesn't look like our friends are gonna show."

"And I was sooo looking forward to it." Jack snarked as he retrieved his pack from the ground, brushing the dirt and grass off before swinging it over a shoulder.

Lorne chuckled a bit as they formed up for the short trek back to the Gate, "It's your own fault Captain. I'm sure Doctor Weir would have sent the Colonel's team for this meet and greet if you hadn't been so insistent that they start searching for those hidden Wraith facilities."

"You don't think I realize that?" The younger man took point without having to be told to, an uneasy feeling he couldn't explain causing him to flick the safety on his P-90 off as they started marching. "Sir, with all due respect, you have no idea how much trouble Michael and his little science experiments are going to be for Atlantis. The quicker we neutralize that threat the quicker we can move on to handling the big fish."

"Well, the Colonel and Doctor Weir certainly agree with you." Lorne glanced idly into the tree line to their flank. He could have sworn he heard movement in the trees but chalked it up to an animal scurrying away from the soldiers. "I was just pointing out that you're kinda the reason we're here getting used as bug food. You know when you joined my team I thought we'd be going after something... cooler."

"I too was a little more optimistic about the possibilities of your involvement." Radek sniffled slightly as he ran a finger under his nose. The poor guy's allergies had been killing him all day. Jack noticed that unlike Rodney he wasn't complaining nonstop about the discomfort though, so he was willing to forgive his slightly cranky attitude.

"Hey guys," He tossed his hands up in surrender with a chuckle. "They can't all be quests for some super-schnazzy Ancient weapon or technology."

Sheppard got noticeably more serious, "Trust me when I say if the Corethi do find their way to this galaxy, we'll need all the manpower we can get. Sir, all the weapons in the universe don't matter a damn bit if there's no one alive to pull the trigger. In the end that's why we lost. We need as many allies as we can get - even if we can't trust them further than we can throw them."

Jack stopped dead in his tracks, raising a closed fist to bring the others to a halt as he trained his weapon on the trees to the south. The Major couldn't help but notice how his face immediately shifted from relaxed and jovial to the grimmest expression he'd ever seen on the man. _Just like his father._ "Identify yourselves or we'll open fire!"

Evan couldn't make anything out for himself but shouldered his own weapon anyways as he walked quickly up to the Captain's position. "What do you see Sheppard?"

Gritting his teeth as the forms fanned out slightly into what he could only assume were combat positions Jack pointed with the barrel of his P-90, "At least six armed men in the bush. Maybe more."

"I said identify yourselves or we _will_ open fire!" Slipping behind a nearby tree, Sheppard was pleased to see the rest of the team also ducking into whatever cover they could find. "We're all supposed to be friends here, remember? So lets make nice before someone does something they can't take back."

There was a rustling of movement in the trees, voices whispering back and forth apparently trying to decide what to do. The hair on the back of Jack's neck was standing at full attention as every warning bell in his brain was screaming for him to get the hell out of there. Something was very wrong here. He cast a glance to his commanding officer, mouthing the words 'what now?'.

Lorne considered it for a few seconds before motioning towards the Gate with his head. If this was all some kind of misunderstanding he didn't want to be responsible for killing their allies, even ones as duplicitous as the Genii.

They'd only made it a few steps when Sheppard caught a pair of voices off to the side in rapid, hushed conversation.

"Is that him?" This one sounded young, possibly female.

The other was gruff, carrying with it the surety of a seasoned commander, "Yes. Remember, we have to take him alive. Kill the rest if you have to."

That was all Jack needed to hear as he spun on a heel and aimed in the direction of the voices, opening fire a split second before their unseen enemy did the same. "Trap! Fall back to the Gate! Now!"

A few minutes and a lot of automatic weapons fire later found the group sprinting through the undergrowth as the Stargate came into view. Jack was taking up the rear, firing over his shoulder as he growled, "Move your ass Zelenka!"

Lorne was on point dragging Zelenka behind him as the scientist clutched the bullet wound in his upper arm and cursed pretty much nonstop in Czech. Depositing the scientist at the DHD the Major fell back to the tree line to keep their pursuers busy with Sheppard and Corporal Shanks. "Can you speed this up a bit Radek?!"

"Says the man without a bullet in his arm!" Zelenka groused as his blood-covered fingers danced slickly across the DHD, finally sighing in relief as the event horizon kawooshed into existence. "Done!"

Jack nodded to Lorne as they all started to back towards the glowing Gate, still firing wildly into the tree line. "Go on. I've got your six, sir."

The Major didn't need to be told twice, turning on a heel he darted towards the Stargate while hastily activating his radio, "Major Lorne to Atlantis! Drop the shield! I say again, drop the shield! We're under fire and coming in hot!"

Elizabeth's voice cut across the comm less than a second later, "You're all clear Major."

Evan never paused in his stride as he snatched Zelenka by the shoulder strap of his tac vest and dragged the man along with himself through the Gate. Corporal Shanks stepping through just a few seconds afterwards ducking low to avoid the bullets still flying through the Gate above their heads.

Seeing the last of the team make it through unscathed Jack himself turned away from the fire-fight on an all out sprint to get through before the wormhole closed. He was just a few steps shy of his destination when something grabbed him from behind and practically clotheslined him to the ground, his weapon flying out of his hands as his head slamming into the compacted earth below. The sound of the Gate disengaging made him groan out loud as the Genii soldiers closed in around him, weapons drawn and ready.

Acting far more dazed by the impact than he really was, the Captain let his fingers close around the reassuringly cold steel of his knife. When two of the soldiers approached, one crouching down to roll him over, he sprung in an instant. In one fluid motion he swept the legs out from under the soldier standing near his feet as his upper half rolled the opposite direction, his knife hand a blur of motion until it impacted the kneeling man's larynx. Jack could feel the warm splatter of arterial blood coating his arm and face as he deftly caught the rifle the soldier dropped in order to clutch desperately at his gushing throat.

Sheppard was just back on his feet and starting to fire into the rapidly scattering crowd when a Genii soldier he hadn't seen managed to bring the butt of his rifle crashing down on the base of his skull. Stars literally flashed before his eyes as he slumped forward to his knees, the rifle clattering to the ground where it was quickly kicked out of reach.

"It's good to see you again Colonel." The one holding the modified spear gun that was still attached to the back of his tac vest stepped forward and kneeled in front of him with a self-satisfied smirk. The raw fury in his eyes made Sheppard remarkably self-satisfied himself despite the pain tearing through his skull. "Though I am disappointed you felt it necessary to kill three more of my men in the process."

"Day's still young." Jack would have recognized that face anywhere. It was to be expected considering the fact he'd tried to kill both of his parents at one point or another. Slipping on his best bemused smile, he fought the urge to tell the asshole he'd managed to screw up again by grabbing the wrong damn Sheppard. Instead he just raised his hands slightly as he met the man's cold eyes and spat blood onto the ground between them. "They won't be the last Kolya."

***************************************************************************************************************

T.B.C

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I would really like to see some more reviews on this though, even if just to tell me how much you hate it. So drop me a line and let me know what you think.


	7. Chapter 7

Title- A Moment in Time  
Chapter- 7/?  
Author- Dekardkain  
Date- 11/12/09  
Rating- M  
Category- AU, S/W romance, K/OMC, action.  
Archiving- Would be an honor, just ask.  
Warnings- Violence/consensual sex  
Disclaimers- I don't own this, no money, yadda yadda.

Summary: An unexpected arrival brings new hope to Atlantis

AN: This chapter contains major spoilers for the Season 3 episode 'Common Ground'. Hopefully everyone has seen it, but if not, you may not want to read this until you do.

Chapter 7 - "Parallels"

Elizabeth was out of her office the second Chuck announced the incoming wormhole, using what little self-control she could grasp at the moment to keep her speed just a notch under frantic. She was through Control, down the stairs and standing in front of the Gate even as the first of the search team was stepping across the event horizon. Taking in a deep breath to school her voice she clasped her hands in front of herself and turned to Teyla, "Anything?"

"There were no signs of Captain Sheppard or the soldiers Major Lorne reported were pursuing them." The Athosian woman seemed barely able to contain her own worry at their failure. It seemed Elizabeth wasn't the only one who'd grown attached to the young man over the last month - though likely for entirely different reasons.

Ronon nodded grimly, "They covered their tracks well. Though we did find..."

Teyla momentarily silenced him with a pointed glare, "There is no need to unduly worry her, nor is there a reason to assume it was his."

"Assume _what_ was his exactly?" Elizabeth inquired, though she had a pretty good idea what they were talking about just from the context.

"We found a rather large quantity of blood near the gate," Teyla stated almost apologetically. "As I said though, there is no reason to assume it was his. Doctor Zelenka was wounded in the retreat and..."

Ronon cut her off with a growl, "That was not from Dr. Zelenka! You saw how much blood was there Teyla as well as the pattern on the trees - someone's throat was cut."

"That is still not reason enough to assume he is dead!" She fired back just as vehemently.

Elizabeth stepped forward and silenced them both with a look. "No one is assuming he's dead until we have a...," She was going to say 'body' but thought better of it, "A good reason to believe otherwise. That's an order."

Looking rather green at the conversation of blood-splatter trajectories Rodney stepped forward still looking at his hand-held's screen. "There's a good chance he was taken off-planet so I gathered the last fifty or so Gate addresses that were dialed."

"That should be helpful," Elizabeth nodded to the scientist gratefully, "But since the transmission that summoned us to the planet was sent using a code we gave the Genii, that will be our starting point."

Rodney scoffed, "What are you gonna do? Just like ask the Genii if one of them took Sheppard?"

Elizabeth suddenly became 'Dr. Weir' as she schooled her resolve, "Yes. I am."

All conversation came to a screeching halt as the Gate behind them began dialing in. McKay frowned in obvious disbelief as he motioned over his shoulder, "So this is...?"

"Yes it is." Putting on her best leader face she stepped around the men as the security contingent in the Gate Room fanned out behind her with weapons at the ready.

"Incoming wormhole," Chuck's voice blared out over the PA, "We are receiving the new identification code."

"Security teams stand by." Someone had just abducted one of her people, Elizabeth was in no mood to play around. "Lower the shield."

Less than a second after her command had been obeyed, the self-styled Genii leader and an escort of three guards stepped out through the Gate. "Welcome Ladon."

"I came as soon as I...," The man cut himself off as three hundred pounds of pissed off Satedan rounded the guards and got right into his face.

"What have you done with Sheppard?" Ronon bent down over the Genii leader, his form literally towering over the smaller man.

"Ronon," Elizabeth chastised, "He is here as our guest."

The sound of combat boots descending the stairs behind them caused the group to glance up at the man trotting down to meet them. Zipping up his tac vest along the way he nodded to Lorne who was already prepping the search team they would be taking through the Gate personally. "Dial it down a bit Chewy. We need this guy in one piece."

John's smile seemed genuine enough but the tone of his voice clearly indicated his next words weren't entirely in jest. "I promise that if we get to the part where he needs his arms ripped off you'll be the first one I call."

Ladon glanced at Dr. Weir incredulously. "What is this? I thought you said Colonel Sheppard was missing? If this was some sort of ruse to get me here I can assure you.."

Elizabeth cut him off with a wary sigh, marveling once again at just how bad John's timing seemed to be as she pinched the bridge of her nose in agitation. "This could take some explaining."

* * *

"Kolya!" Jack throttled the bars of the cell as hard as he could. At the moment he was relishing the mental image of pretending they were the bastard's throat. "I want my phone call!"

Slamming a steel-toed boot into the door brought the desired rush of pain-fueled adrenalin he was looking for. "I said I want my fucking phone call! You know - little thing, has a cord, makes words go really far?!"

"You're wasting your breath." A gravely voice from the darkness of the cell next to him caused the Captain to pause, tilting his head to the side quizzically. He'd just kind of figured he'd been alone down here.

Approaching the small barred window separating them he tried to make out his unfortunate companion but couldn't see a damn thing in the dark. "Thoughtful of them to provide me with someone to talk to. Another set of hands for getting the hell out of here too if you're willing."

He scratched his stubble thoughtfully, "I don't suppose you've gone all _Count of Montey Cristo _on me and already constructed a tunnel out of here? That would be insanely helpful."

"There is no escape," The voice rasped. From the sound alone Jack assumed the man must be bordering on the ancient._ Great, they give me someone who could be able to help and it's Old Man River. Memo to Universe - Irony is such lazy humor._

"Ah, they always say that." Jack couldn't help but chuckle despite his circumstances, "Wouldn't be much of a prison if they went around talking about how easy it was to get out of."

"Besides, I've got people on the outside who are gonna come down on this place like a cliff hammer." Pacing around the circumference of his cell, a thought seemed to occur to him after a long pause, "What about you? How long ya been down here?"

"Many years." The Captain was starting to wonder if they'd put this guy down here to annoy him into giving them information. Did the words vague and noncommittal mean anything to him? Did he have to take classes to become this evasive?

"How many is many?" Jack frowned, "We talkin' a few years or 'I've never seen the Simpsons'?"

There was a short pause, undoubtedly caused by the man trying to decipher his question. "It no longer matters."

"That long, huh?" Sheppard chewed on his lip as he tried to piece together whatever information he could that could help him. "What are you down here for anyways? Kill a couple of Kolya's men? Start a coup? Forget to pay your parking tickets?"

After a long sigh the voice moved almost imperceptibly closer to him. "I simply allowed myself to be captured alive."

"Well," Jack felt his lips turn up into an uncontrollable smirk at he shook his head sheepishly, "That'll happen."

The sound of more than one set of booted feet approaching had Sheppard turning back towards the front of the cell as three Genii soldiers rounded the corner. He hefted his arms up halfheartedly as one of them stood forward and unlocked the door, another behind him leveling one of those wicked looking three-barreled jobs at his chest. "So... can I assume this is about my phone call?"

"Move." The one with the gun motioned emphatically with the barrel of his weapon.

"Well there's a couple of problems with that." Jack tossed on his most infuriating grin, "First, you didn't say please. Second, if your front is this ugly, I think I'd like to spare myself the other side."

Gunfire barked like a thunderclap in the small area of the cells. Sheppard could feel the bullet zip right past the right side of his face before a dislodging a large chunk of the masonry in the wall behind him. "Jesus!"

"Commander Kolya insists." _Boy does that guy look pleased with himself. _Jack found that to be an unacceptable state of affairs, considering the circumstances. One he planned to remedy shortly. Shuffling forward just slowly enough to piss the man off, he waited patiently for the shove he knew was coming from behind. He blamed his injured and slightly loopy cranium for the fact his Uncle Jack's voice was echoing in his ears: _This is so freaking cliche`._

As soon as the poor guy's fingers made contact with his shoulder Jack snatched his arm at the wrist in an almost casual gesture. Before either of the others could react he had spun himself behind the startled guard, pinned his arm behind his back and locked his free hand tightly under the squirming man's jaw. He briefly considered holding the guy hostage - unfortunately for him he knew Kolya cared more about revenge than his own men, so he was of more value to Sheppard as a battering ram. Slamming a closed fist into the base of the hapless guard's neck hard enough to render him unconscious, he shoved the limp body forward into the other two before they could shut the door to his cell.

Darting forward between them he was just about to lay a hand on the unconscious man's rifle when an indescribable pain seemed to tear through his entire body simultaneously. His muscles clenched and shuddered uncontrollably, the coppery taste of blood filling his mouth as his gnashing teeth made contact with his tongue. After the fifteen longest seconds of the young soldier's life, the pain cut out suddenly as the guard withdrew the shock stick from his back. "Owwwwch! Pretty sure Kolya wants me alive!"

"Yeah. That's why I didn't shoot you." Setting his rifle aside, the guard stepped forward scowling and cracking his knuckles, "He didn't say what kind of condition you had to be in though."

"I didn't kill your friend." His entire body still thrumming with pain Jack could only toss out a smirk he was pretty sure ended up more of a grimace as he glanced up at the soldiers closing in on his fallen body menacingly, "Guess I'm not getting any points for that."

* * *

"_Alien_?" Jack couldn't help but scoff as he took a long drag off the bottle of spiced Athosian spirits. Stuff tasted like rum but hit like moonshine - a combination that could knock the uninitiated right on their ass. He vividly remembered giving a bottle to Lieutenant Kharkov the first time she'd saved his life. Sheppard had never seen someone raised on Russian rot-gut vodka turn that particular shade of green before. "Granted, it is a scary movie, but the scariest you've ever seen?"

"The part where the alien comes jumping out of the guy's chest? Yuch!" Jennifer shivered visibly. "Wait a second. Are you making fun of me mister?"

She scowled at him pointedly from her rather comfortable position with her head on his lap, legs draped casually over the ledge, bare toes dipping into the warm water below while she stared up at the sky. After finishing the ice cream the good Captain had requisitioned for them from the mess, and more than a third of the bottle of potent liquor Teyla had given him as a housewarming present, they'd sprawled out on the balcony to look up at the stars. The air coming off the sea was refreshingly warm, the small grey blanket spread beneath them and Sheppard's uniform jacket sheltered her from the cold of the deck as he pointed out constellations in the 'Lantian sky.

It turned out that as a child Jack had been very disappointed to find out that there weren't any named constellations here like there were in the Milky Way, so over the years he and the rest of the expedition had simply named their own. Jennifer was especially impressed by Rodney's 'Drunken Matador' and Cadman's 'Mc'Donalds Nebulae'. In the young woman's defense it _did_ look an awful lot like the golden arches.

"I wouldn't dream of makin' fun of you Jenn," Jack leaned down to let his lips brush softly over hers, the scent of the spicy liquor dancing on his breath before leaning back and running a hand idly through her hair. "Something about an old proverb my mother used to quote. Always be nice to the people who make your food, tend your wounds, and share your bed - and you're two outta three Doc."

She snickered softly while slapping his chest, his dog tags tinkling quietly under her hand. "Good. Because I take enough flack already for 'robing the cradle' without you teaming up against me too."

"Now, just for clarification, is that because I'm five years younger than you?" His smile was downright infuriating, "Or because I haven't been born yet?"

"I thought I told you? The time travel stuff gives me a headache Jack." Jennifer groaned as she pulled herself into a sitting position, sliding her feet out of the water and shifting up until her head was resting over his heart. Her eyes fell closed automatically when Jack's fingers started gliding soothingly through her hair. "But to answer your question... I get hassled for both." She sighed softly at his touch, "And for a whole lot more."

His brows came together at that, "What exactly do you mean by 'a lot more'?"

"Ugh. This is why I don't drink!" She burrowed deeper into his chest, slapping at it again when he laughed at the blush spreading from ears to neck. "I shouldn't have said anything! You have to believe me, normally I wouldn't have brought it up..."

"Whoa there," Jack smiled easily while kissing the top of her head. "You're gonna break the sound barrier. Someone giving you trouble?"

Jennifer rolled her eyes exaggeratedly as she shifted slightly in his arms to rest her chin on his chest and look him in the eyes, "At ease Captain. No need to come barreling to my rescue this time."

"I see you heard about Rodney's late night wake up call." He tilted his head forward until their noses were almost touching, "Then what's the problem darlin'?"

Jack wasn't normally one for terms of endearment, but he'd stumbled on that gem while imitating Colonel Mitchell's accent in the mess a few weeks earlier. For whatever reason it seemed to regress the normally all too put together doctor into a blushing schoolgirl. An effect she was apparently all too aware of as she tried to scowl at him over her heating cheeks. "Don't you ever switch off Sheppard?"

"Depends." At her quirked eyebrow he continued in the most serious voice he could muster as he waggled his eyebrows at her, "Is this the part where you offer to help me find it?"

"Jack!" He was slightly relieved when she didn't hit him this time, just huffed and glared at him in disappointment. "See, this is part of the problem!"

Shifting his head to the side his lips made the lightest contact with the shell of her ear, "Gotta tell ya doc, I'm not seein' any problems from up here."

"That's because you're not the one they're treating differently Jack." Despite herself and what she considered to be her rather righteous indignation, Jennifer found herself tilting her head to facilitate his actions. "Ever since your little display in the training room last week the Marines are being polite to me!"

He chuckled quietly at that, "A scientist complaining about the soldiers being polite to them? This is new."

"They're being _too_ polite Jack!" She took a much needed moment to gasp softly at the jolts of desire his wandering mouth was eliciting from her before continuing in a shaky voice, "When I went to treat those children on P9X-151 three of them offered to carry my equipment for me. I only had one bag!"

Jack shrugged, "So they respect me. Big deal. It's probably just because I'm the Colonel's son."

"It's not that." Jennifer shook her head at the memory of conversations she'd overhead the last week, "They're terrified of you Jack. No one has ever come close to giving Ronon a challenge, let alone forcing him to concede a draw. They said you broke three sets of sticks before calling it a day!"

"Blatant exaggeration." The humor in his voice was supposed to be disarming, but for some reason it only ratcheted up her apprehension. "We only broke two sets. Either the wood we used to make 'em in my time was sturdier or Ronon is just that much stronger, 'cause I've never had that problem before. You've also got to remember that Ronon and I have been training together my entire life - without that I wouldn't stand any more of a chance against him than those Marines."

Jennifer continued as if she hadn't heard him, "Everyone in the lab with the exception of Carson seems to think I've lost my mind. The women either glare at me or ask all these questions like they think you're a carnival ride they'll all get a turn on eventually. The men are either too scared to talk to me out of fear of your wrath or are openly contemptuous of the fact I'm seeing a soldier. Like I said, none of them understand... _us_."

"I'd be happy to explain it to 'em." Jack murmured as his lips drifted from her ear down the side of her neck. "You'd think scientists would be able to understand the principle of opposites attracting each other."

"Mmmhm." Not the most eloquent response she'd ever come up with, but it seemed to fit given the circumstances. The gentle vibrations of his words coupled with the slow journey of his tongue and teeth down to her collarbone was making focusing on his words increasingly difficult. In the end she pulled back a bit to regain her concentration, vaguely remembering that she'd _really_ needed to get this out in the open. He was too good at distracting her and as she'd said earlier that was a part of the problem. "I'm serious Jack."

"So am I. I can be serious." He coughed slightly as he tried to school his features to anything but the arousal he was actually feeling, his ever-present smirk still trying desperately to break through as his eyes danced with barely controlled amusement, "See? This is me being very serious. It would help if I had glasses I could tilt down dramatically, but you get the point."

"What are we doing here Captain?" Sighing softly she ran a few fingers down from his sideburn onto the stubbled cheek below.

"Now Doc, I thought that part was pretty self-evident." Realizing her mock glare wasn't quite so mock anymore Jack sighed and moved back to look her in the eyes, "Look, I'm not really good at the whole... 'talking' thing. Especially with this much liquor and so little blood actually making it to my brain at the moment."

"Before this goes any... further," Jennifer seemed flustered at his refusal to address the issue, "I need to know if you're serious or if I'm just objective number one on your campaign to conquer Atlantis."

"You know, it's pretty damn sexy when you use military terminology." At her continued scowl he groaned, "I only have one conquest planned at the moment, alright? And considering this one appears to be encountering stiff enemy resistance I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"Good." Jennifer's smile finally broke through as she returned to her earlier position laying back against his chest, pulling his arms around her midsection as she snuggled into place. "I don't share Jack."

"And you can kill me and make it look like an accident." His hands glided slowly over her flat plane of her stomach on a steady upwards journey. Sheppard smirked against the skin of her shoulder when she arched into his touch, her backside grinding rather enticingly against his front while her hand around behind him to grasp desperately at the short hairs on the back of his head. "That's all the incentive I need darlin'."

* * *

The return to consciousness was rapid and more than a little painful as every cut and bruise reminded him of it's presence in vivid technicolor. Jack wasn't entirely sure what had dragged him back from the comfortable warmth of Jennifer's presence and into this dank bunker, but he was pretty confident the icy water covering him from his hair to his waist had something to do with it. He found his first impulse to clutch his aching head impeded by the shackles holding him fast to the chair while a soldier wheeled what looked like a 1950's era television camera around in front of him.

"It's been a long time Colonel." Kolya stepped purposefully into his field of vision, hands folded behind his back as he positively radiated smug satisfaction. "You're looking exceptionally well. Despite the damage my guards inflicted on you for that foolish escape attempt that is."

Jack tried to smirk but grimaced as his jaw popped audibly at the motion, "Can't blame a guy for trying."

"On the contrary Colonel," Kolya nodded towards him, "I would expect no less from a soldier of your distinction."

It occurred to Sheppard that he could really get used to the rank thing. It really was too bad the whole spiel was an act. "I guess I'll take that as a compliment."

"And you should," The man's smile was oddly disconcerting under the circumstances, "Just as you should understand this is not personal. As soon as my demands are met you will be returned to Atlantis unharmed. Well, relatively unharmed."

"You shot me in the back with a harpoon gun Kolya." Jack frowned, "Where I come from that's pretty personal."

Kolya shook his head at that, "Lets not pretend you wouldn't have done exactly the same in my position. We're soldiers Colonel, we do what is necessary to achieve our aims."

"Yeah. Some times are more enjoyable than others." He muttered under his breath, "What the hell do you want anyways?"

"It's not what I want so much as it's _who_ I want." Stepping forward into his space Kolya nodded to the camera, "Who you're going to give to me."

It was about that time that all the pieces finally clicked in Jack's brain causing his blood temperature to drop somewhere just north of freezing. The capture, the other prisoner, the demands... he was _so_ boned. Worst of all was the knowledge that he had to let this play out or they may very well never befriend one of their most important allies in the coming fight.

Old Man River was Todd, and Jack's capture was about to get a whole lot less bearable. He cursed himself for not having realized it sooner. Then again, it wasn't like he could just explain to Todd that they'd actually known each other for decades and that he should really think twice about sucking the life out of him. The Wraith would think he was a nut bar. Or a liar. Neither of which would help him get out of here in one piece and hopefully free of premature gray.

Clenching his teeth he waited until Acastus met his gaze, "Just so we're clear on this Kolya. I am going to kill you."

Despite his injuries, something on his face must have told the older man just how serious he was as the Commander paled slightly. "I've heard that before."

"Yeah." Jack's smile was feral, "But did I specify when?"

"Enough of this." Kolya was the first to blink as he turned to face the man approaching Sheppard with a gag. "No. If they refuse to meet my demands... I want them to hear him scream."

* * *

"Your son?" Ladon frowned, "I am sorry for your loss Colonel."

Elizabeth nodded before John had a chance to lob the insult she could practically see sitting on the tip of his tongue, "We didn't want this information to become public... for obvious reasons."

"Yes, of course." The Genii leader glanced around the sea of faces in the conference room. Their countenances varied only slightly from distrust to out-right hostility. "Many would love to have that kind of leverage over the Commander of Atlantis."

Ronon growled, "Such as yourself?"

"I am getting tired of these accusations Dr. Weir." Ladon pointedly refused to look at the glaring Satedan as he turned to Elizabeth, "Why would I have come here if I had anything to do with Captain Sheppard's disappearance?"

"To throw us off the scent." Teyla was only restraining her emotions slightly better than Ronon.

"And trade a lower echelon officer for the leader of an entire people?" The young man glowered at the Athosian woman.

"No one said it was a good plan," Rodney quipped, "It is Genii after all."

Elizabeth sighed softly. She had the distinct feeling this meeting was spiraling out of her control. How was she supposed to keep six very angry human beings with access to heavy weapons from stringing this man up when she was fighting the urge to do it herself? She was rapidly running out of good reasons to run interference for the Genii Leader. Luckily the argument was abruptly derailed as Chuck's voice blared over the intercom over the sound of the Gate coming to life. "We have an unscheduled off-world activation!"

Before the technician could even finish the sentence the room had emptied. Ladon was close on her heels as she entered Command just in time to see Rodney practically shove a young German tech out of his chair in front of the console. "McKay. Do we have an identification code?"

The scientist's face fell after consulting the screen, "No. But we are receiving an analog video signal."

Dr. Weir locked her hands behind her back in an effort to stop from wringing them raw in her agitation, "Get it on the screen."

Everything in Command seemed to come to a screeching halt the moment that Kolya's face filled the screen, static distorting his voice and features. "Dr. Weir, if you are receiving this, please respond."

A sudden weight settled over Elizabeth's chest at the horrifying realization that _this_ man had her son. She and Rodney exchanged a helpless glance that Ronon didn't understand, "Who the hell is he?"

Teyla shook her head in a mirror image of her leader's resignation, "Acastus Kolya. The Genii military leader who tried to capture Atlantis. Ladon was a member of his strike team."

The massive Satedan crossed his arms over his chest as he glowered at the Genii standing a few feet from him. At least Ladon had the good sense to look away guiltily.

"I know you're there Doctor." Kolya sighed, "It's pointless to pretend otherwise. The existence of Atlantis is no secret among the Genii."

"Yeah," Rodney groused, "Obviously not so good with the secrets."

John shared a significant look with Elizabeth, "No shit."

"Open a channel Chuck." Elizabeth could only shake her head, "Lets get this over with."

At the tech's nod she took a last breath to calm her voice before breaking the silence, "This is Doctor Weir."

"Oh, good." Kolya's smile was maddening as he stepped out of the way of the camera, "I wanted to be certain you would be there to see this."

Captain Sheppard smiled halfheartedly at the camera doing his best to look completely bored with the situation. Despite his apparent humor over the whole situation, Elizabeth could feel her blood run cold at the sight of the bruises and cuts marring his face and arms. She shuddered to think what damage he might be hiding under his black t-shirt and fatigues.

Before she had a chance to find her voice Rodney stepped up beside her, "What did you do to him?!"

"Nothing whatsoever Doctor McKay." The Commander motioned idly at Sheppard behind him, "Colonel Sheppard on the other hand has killed three of my men and wounded another during an aborted escape attempt."

Ronon exchanged a look with John, shrugging slightly and mouthing the word 'nice'. The Colonel couldn't help but agree with the sentiment. If the carnage they'd found in the clearing near the Stargate was any indication the kid had put up a hell of a fight before they'd managed to bring him down.

Temporarily forgetting Kolya couldn't see his face Rodney made a point to roll his eyes, "Alright. Let me rephrase that - what are you _going_ to do to him?"

"That's really very simple Doctor," Kolya smiled as if this was the most reasonable way to do business in the galaxy, "I propose a trade."

"Before we continue this conversation another second I want to speak to Sheppard." Few missed the way Jack seemed to cringe as her voice came across the line.

"Be my guest."

"Really?" Jack frowned in the man's direction, "Dial down the melodrama a bit there chief. I think they can grasp a simple prisoner transfer without all the theatrics."

He turned back to face the camera, "Seriously, this guy just needs a cape and a cat to stroke while he's making his demands."

At the Commander's nod one of the guards stepped forward and brought a meaty fist down across his jaw. The sound of the blow carried loudly over the radio causing everyone in the room but Ronon to cringe. Elizabeth could feel her nails digging into the palms of her hands painfully, but refused to look away from the screen as Kolya stuck his head back into frame. "As you can see, he's still his same charming self. If you have anything to say Colonel I suggest you get on with it while you're still capable."

"Stop searching for me blindly already." Kolya puffed his chest out in triumph at the words. Not rolling his eyes at the man's oblivious stupidity was one of the premier accomplishments of Jack's life. "I need you to do this for me McKay."

His brows knitting together the physicist leaned closer to the console, "Alright? What can I do for you John?"

"Rodney," Jack glared at the camera imploringly, "I am in it pretty deep here buddy. Deep, deep down. So deep not even the _long range scanners _would find me."

There was a pregnant pause while every head in the Control Room locked on McKay and he stared at the screen seemingly mystified. Most in the room just looked horribly confused. Only Elizabeth and Rodney seemed to have gotten the message, though the reactions it engendered were entirely different. Elizabeth looked frantically at the scientist while McKay's eyes bored into the computer screen in front of him with renewed determination, his fingers now hammering away at light speed on the keyboard.

"Um, McKay?" The Captain sighed in exaggerated impatience, "Kolya, did your stone age technology just crap out on me?"

"I'm here John!" Rodney chewed on his lip while the information he needed finally scrolled before his eyes. "Umm... Colonel? Before I can do anything you ask, you know I'm going to need your ... your security access code!"

"Of course McKay." Jack glanced at Kolya, shrugging as much as his bonds allowed. "Procedure. My access code is Foxtrot Mike seven dash three one niner."

Quickly punching the adjustments into the long rang scanners Rodney almost cried out in triumph when a small blip appeared on the screen before remembering he was on the radio. Spinning in his chair to face Elizabeth he nodded enthusiastically and mouthed the words 'we've got him' before schooling his voice, "Very good Colonel. That code checks out perfectly."

Unable to keep her silence any longer Elizabeth was clutching at the last threads of calm she had left, "What's the situation Colonel?"

"It's Ladon he wants." Jack seemed to be staring directly at her through the camera, "Some sort of Genii political revenge thing. It's all very tedious."

"And your orders?" She barely managed to speak the words aloud, the answer was already clear in his eyes.

Sheppard took a deep breath before responding, "He gets nothing. We don't negotiate with terrorists."

"That's a very unfortunate attitude Colonel." Kolya growled as he motioned to the door, "Bring him in!"

Elizabeth shocked the entire room when she nearly choked on a sob at the sight before her, "Oh my God."

"No no no!" Rodney glanced around frantically like someone in the room actually had the power to prevent this, but the guards leading the shackled Wraith over to Jack's side never even slowed their stride. "Sheppard could have left you in that hole to rot Kolya! He doesn't deserve this!"

"Let us be very clear Dr. McKay," Kolya frowned as if in sympathy, "No one deserves this."

"No! Don't do this." Elizabeth was barely holding it together. She looked so unsteady that John instinctively moved to her side, sliding a hand to the small of her back in the only support he could offer for the moment. "_Please_ don't do this."

"The choice is yours Dr. Weir." Acostus motioned back to the man still refusing to give them the satisfaction of seeing him squirm as they removed the shackle from the Wraith's hand. "Do we have a deal?"

The silence was deafening as Elizabeth focused entirely on the Captain's face, his eyes resigned as he shook his head slowly from side to side. Torn between the fact she would never forgive herself for allowing him to endure this when she could prevent it and the surety that he would never forgive her if she caved in to Kolya's demands. She felt John's hand practically holding her upright as Kolya sighed, "As you wish."

Jack's smirk never wavered as he locked eyes with the Wraith in front of him, "I hope I give you heartburn."

The creature seemed to pause for just a second, eying him appraisingly before slamming his palm into his chest. Jack's teeth clenched uncontrollably as he used every technique he'd ever learned to try desperately not to scream. Pain tore through every nerve ending in his body at the same time, radiating outwards in concussive waves from his breastbone. The tendons in his neck felt like they were going to snap from the pressure, his veins raising to the point he was waiting for them to rupture and bleed out. Fingernails drew troughs through the hard wood of the chair and the shackles cut deeply into his wrists as he convulsed against them uncontrollably.

"Stop!" Elizabeth jerked forward out of John's hands, "Dammit you've made your point Kolya! Stop now!"

Just when Jack was sure he was going to break the Commander nodded to the guards, "Enough."

It took a stun wand and two more of the burly men to remove the Wraith from Captain Sheppard's chest. The man slouched back into the chair, head lolling to the side as he tried desperately to regain his breath. Weir heard a growl she almost attributed to Ronon before realizing it was coming from her own chest, "You've just crossed a line Kolya."

The Commander proceeded as though he hadn't heard her, "We've found that a minimum of three hours is crucial to allow the subject to recover between feeding sessions. That is how much time you have to change your mind Doctor."

Without another word the transmission cut out, leaving them alone with the images still vividly etched into their minds. John ran a hand through his hair in agitation, the thought clearly painted on his face: That could have been... _should_ have been him out there. "Rodney, what did I miss there?"

"I can't believe I didn't think of it before!" McKay pulled the long range scanners up on the main screen, "That kid of yours is a genius Sheppard. See, in his time they had developed sub-space tracking devices for just this kind of situation. While we don't have the ability to duplicate the technology yet, our long rang scanners can pick it up if..."

"If you have the right frequency modulation." Colonel Sheppard couldn't help but smile as the pieces fell into place, "His 'access code'."

"Foxtrot Mike. FM." Rodney shook his head slowly, "Like I said - genius."

John tried to act as casually as he could as he led Elizabeth slowly to a nearby chair. She appeared shell-shocked and he was starting to get a little worried about the severity of her reaction to what they'd just seen. He knew she cared for all of her people... but this was different. She appeared to be on the verge of tears and frankly it was starting to scare the crap out of him. "We recalled the _Daedalus_ as soon as he went missing, but they're still at least forty-five minutes out. How long will it take to get us to that planet Rodney?"

The scientist's face fell as he did the mental calculations, "At maximum speed... seven hours."

"That's bloody unacceptable!" Carson stepped into the group, "Aye, Captain Sheppard is young and strong, but I dunna think even he can survive two more rounds of _that_!"

"Unless we can get the gate address from Ladon it might be our only hope Doc." Switching quickly into command mode John started barking off orders in rapid succession, "McKay, you stay here. Work with the Genii and see if you can narrow down that list of possible addresses. Carson, I'll need you and a medical team with me on the _Daedalus_. If it takes us seven hours he'll likely need..."

"Aye." Beckett was already on his way out the door, "I'll get everything together."

"Lorne, you and Teyla will coordinate the rescue from here if Rodney gets lucky." Sheppard nodded to Ronon, "Round up SGAs four and seven and meet me in the jumper bay. We've got a man down people, lets get to work!"

Deciding he had one more task to accomplish before getting prepped for the mission John caught Teyla's eyes and she fell into step with him while he helped Elizabeth back to her office. The fact the Doctor didn't even bother to protest his actions was probably the scariest part of all. Finally coming to stop at the couch in her office he helped her sink back into the soft cushions, a worried expression marring his features, "'Lizbeth? I've got to prep the teams before our rendezvous with the _Daedalus._ Is there anything I can do?"

When her eyes met his it occurred to him he'd never seen her so frantic. Earlier he'd though she had lost control, but now he realized it was the only thing keeping her from bolting from the room. "Bring him home John. Just... please... you have to bring him home."

"That's the plan." With Teyla waiting in the doorway he had to settle for squeezing her shoulder reassuringly before returning to his feet and pulling the Athosian out onto the walkway with him. "Something isn't right here. You need to keep an eye on her for me. If anything..."

"Go John." Teyla offered him a small smile, "Retrieve Captain Sheppard. I shall look after Doctor Weir."

The Colonel looked awkward for a moment before shrugging, "Thanks. Contact us if you hear anything."

As he made his way down to the Jumper Bay the young woman returned to the couch, sinking down beside her superior and placing an arm around her shaking shoulders. She often understood far more than her Lantian friends gave her credit for, and this instance was no different. Her suspicions had been confirmed the moment she'd seen Elizabeth's reaction to the news Jack had gone missing. What she failed to understand was why the leader had yet to inform the Colonel of the truth, especially under the circumstances.

Feeling Elizabeth's head turn into her shoulder she smiled sadly, "We will find your son Elizabeth."

The quiet sob that escaped was the only indication the other woman had heard her, but at this point words weren't really necessary. John was right - they all had a job to do.

* * *

T.B.C

Author's note: Unless people really like the premise, this will likely be the last time I write a chapter this directly connected to an episode. You would think it would be easy but it actually seems to make it more difficult. Trying to take an existing plot structure and mold it to suit your own needs is pretty frustrating. Anyways, I'm not sure how well this adaptation worked out and I'd love to hear your opinions about it. If you'd like to see more interludes like this in the future let me know, if you have a specific episode in mind I might just try to work it in down the road.


	8. Chapter 8

Title- A Moment in Time  
Chapter- 8/?  
Author- Dekardkain  
Date- 3/8/10  
Rating- M  
Category- AU, S/W romance, K/OMC, action.  
Archiving- Would be an honor, just ask.  
Warnings- Violence/consensual sex  
Disclaimers- I don't own this, no money, yadda yadda.

Summary: An unexpected arrival brings new hope to Atlantis

AN: This chapter contains major spoilers for the Season 3 episode 'Common Ground'. Hopefully everyone has seen it, but if not, you may not want to read this until you do.  
Warning - This chapter goes some pretty dark places. If that's not your cup of tea you might want to avoid this one.

Chapter 8 - "Free Fall"

* * *

"They called you Sheppard." The ancient voice practically wheezed from the cell next to him.

Jack frowned from his position on the floor, the cool concrete a soothing distraction from the heat and pain still pulsating outwards from his chest. Twenty-five years of life in Pegasus and not one of the bastards had ever managed to lay a feeding hand on him before. He wondered idly if Todd would understand just how many Wraith would have killed to find themselves in his shoes - sucking the life out of Jack Sheppard. "Well that is my name...," He grunted slightly as he shifted positions. "Otherwise it would have been kinda awkward."

There was a quiet shuffling of movement before the man spoke again, "You are in pain?"

"I've felt better." Sheppard couldn't help but roll his eyes at Todd's 'concern', "And quit trying to act all sympathetic - it's creepifying."

His words brought a long pause as the Wraith approached the bars separating their cells, "Then you know?"

"Of course I know," Jack practically growled. "Not all humans are morons."

Todd ignored his obvious ire with a slightly perplexed expression, "And you blame me?"

"Well, you're not exactly on the Christmas card list pal!" Storming onto his feet despite the pain still radiating through his limbs, Jack got as close to the Wraith as the bars allowed. "You sucked the life out of me!"

The amused smirk Todd sported made him want to reach through the bars to knock it off him, "Your anger will only weaken you."

Jack scoffed, "Keeps me warm. Will alone can only keep you going for so long... I've found rage can get you the rest of the way."

"You do realize he is torturing both of us?" At the man's obvious skepticism he continued, "Have you ever known starvation Sheppard?"

"As a matter of fact... I have." Sheppard retreated into himself slightly as the memories bombarded him, "I can sympathize. But _you_ have to realize that Kolya isn't going to let you have your fill - not from me or anyone else."

Todd shrugged, "It is the best I can hope for under the circumstances."

"Bullshit!" The Captain knew it was risky business antagonizing a Wraith, but anger was more useful than despair in this particular situation. "We can get the hell out of here, _together._ You've got to know the layout of this place after spending so much time here."

"That is irrelevant. As I said, there is no..."

"There is always a way if you're willing to fight hard enough. Listen, I know you have no reason to trust me any more than Koyla at this point..." Jack smirked slightly, "Except for the fact I'm locked down here with you, which I suppose does add a few points to my trust quotient."

Todd actually smirked at that. Well, Sheppard thought it was a smirk, but it's not like he'd had a whole lot of experience interpreting Wraith facial gestures. "You have a point."

"Good." He nodded as if agreeing with himself. "Trust is a good start. And like my mother always said, you can't have trust without the truth! So the truth is...," Jack trailed off slightly as he reconsidered, "If I was you I probably wouldn't believe the truth, which makes this all pretty fucking pointless..."

"You ramble much Sheppard." Todd's chuckle caused him to shiver slightly, "Even for a human."

"Well I'm sorry," Jack glowered as he physically ticked items off on his fingers. "I've got a bit of a concussion at the moment. I've been fed on by a Wraith. I've been shot by a harpoon gun. I haven't eaten in more than a day and despite not having slept in nearly forty-eight hours I'm afraid to close my eyes - which brings us right back to the concussion thing!"

Spinning around on a heel he began pacing the cell as he glanced at his watch, "Shit! And I'm missing a date!"

"I am sure your mate will understand." Todd tilted his head to the side, "Given the circumstances."

Jack let out a long sigh before turning back to the Wraith, "Well... thanks."

"You were right about one thing Sheppard." The maybe-smirk on Todd's face seemed to be spreading, "We are in the same situation you and I."

Nodding in agreement, Jack strode purposefully back to the bars with a new determination in his eyes. "The truth then."

"This isn't about you and me. This isn't about escape, or survival, or even about killing Kolya's very deserving ass." Glancing around quickly to make sure the guards were nowhere near them he continued, "There is an enemy coming that will make the distinction between human and Wraith seem trivial by comparison. If either is to survive we need to start working together. We need to start trusting each other. I figure now is as good a time as any."

"And why should I trust you Sheppard? I have tasted your life." Todd ran an eye over the soldier appraisingly, "Can you honestly say you do not wish me dead?"

Jack couldn't help but shrug sheepishly. After all, he _had_ promised him the truth. "Not dead. Injured... maybe, but not dead."

Todd eyed him for a long moment before breaking out in a tentative smile,"I suppose... that is a start."

* * *

"I must admit that I do not understand the problem." Ladon dropped his palms on the table in frustration, "Can you not simply locate this planet in your database?"

Rodney was about to throttle the man, a stinging retort about his maternal line's questionable heritage was only stayed by Elizabeth's cautioning half-glare. "I've already told you three times! The planet is in the database, but it's not supposed to have a Gate!"

"That makes no sense!" The Genii leader frowned, "You know my people aren't capable of interstellar travel!"

Elizabeth thought McKay executed his patented snort, eye-roll, and scoff combination pretty masterfully at that one. "Need I point out that hiding the extent of one's technological development is kind of a Genii trademark? Where I come from it would be considered rather odd for the Amish to have WMDs!"

After nearly three hours of bickering they were no closer to figuring out the Gate address of the planet the Captain's subspace beacon was broadcasting from. Rodney's calm had checked out over two hours ago and his agitation was only growing as they drew ever nearer to Kolya's deadline. With the exception of reeling McKay in every twenty minutes or so, Elizabeth was using every technique, every diplomatic trick she could remember just to maintain some semblance of authority and control. To her credit Teyla was doing the best she could to keep it all from fraying at the seems, but by now even she was starting to grow noticeably more short tempered.

"Our database is over ten thousand years out of date Ladon." Switching firmly into 'Dr. Weir Mode' seemed to lend Elizabeth a measure of much-needed strength, "It's likely a Gate was moved from another planet, possibly to make it easier for the Wraith to cull it. If that's the case the address would not appear in our list."

"Thank you!" Rodney pointed both hands emphatically at Elizabeth, "What she said!"

Teyla had been staring off into space up until that point, her chin resting on her hand as she thought about how much she'd rather be on the _Daedalus_ with John and Ronon than trying to keep Dr. McKay from strangling a foreign dignitary she didn't particularly like herself. Luckily just enough words trickled through her daze to give her an idea that might speed up the process dramatically. "Gentlemen."

"There has got to be some way to find out which planet Kolya would use as a base of operations." McKay obviously hadn't heard her in his headlong rush to beat the proverbial clock, "You served under the man. You said it yourself he was planning a coup, so I'm guessing that he had to have a fallback position in the event things went all Atlantis on him again right?"

"Rodney?" Teyla frowned.

"Yes Doctor McKay." Ladon growled, "Why didn't I think of that earlier? In fact, it's all we used to talk about at our resistance meetings! Stargate addresses this, and fallback positions that. Because we so obviously assumed we would fail!"

"You'll have to forgive my skepticism," McKay tossed his hands in the air sending a few of the scattered papers littering the desk floating off onto the floor, "Because all of your previous plans worked out so freaking well..."

"Rodney!" The Athosian's glare caused both men to lean back into their chairs as she continued in a clipped tone, "As I was saying. If the planet Captain Sheppard is located on does not have a Gate."

"And according to the database it doesn't," Rodney supplied unhelpfully.

Keeping her disapproval to a restrained eye-roll Teyla nodded, "Then could we not simply compare the addresses in Ladon's posession to our database and eliminate any duplicates? Those that were left would be the only possible locations."

"Well that... It would only work if...," McKay trailed off before smacking a hand into his forehead. "Well that's an idea I should have had two hours ago!"

Elizabeth just shook her head as she stood, "Get on it Rodney. I'll be in Command."

"Doing what?" A deep frown creased the scientist's forehead, "I've got dozens of addresses to input from Ladon's list and I could really use the help if you want it finished sooner rather than..."

He trailed off at the utterly distraught look Dr. Weir leveled on him, realization hitting him a split second before the words left her mouth. "I'll be watching Captain Sheppard's torture Rodney... so you'll just have to find someone else to help you."

She was out the door before Rodney could respond. That was probably for the best.

* * *

It was an odd sensation to be completely aware of the fact one was coming unhinged yet unable to do anything to stop the effects. Jack supposed he had always assumed one would just sort of black out as they slipped into insanity, which at least allowed him to hope that _wasn't_ what this was, but he seemed remarkably lucid as they removed his bindings and dragged him from in front of the camera after his second feeding session.

It had been the scream that did it. His scream. That feral sound echoing off the concrete and rebar walls surrounding them. Followed inevitably by the faces.

Alexandra. Lieutenant Bates. Corporal Willis. Doctor McMillan. Ronon. Mitchell. Rodney. His mother. They all came crashing down around him one after another. Every one the same. Every one dead.

He'd had 'episodes' in the past, but never anything like this. The battles, the pain, the dead and dying, it all seemed to descend upon him at once threatening to crush him beneath the weight of his ever-growing burden.

Despite his current, rather manic, detachment the irony wasn't entirely lost on Jack. He'd spent his entire life trying to convince people he wasn't his father only to find himself sitting here having the life sucked out of him because he refused to admit that very thing. But he wasn't Colonel John Sheppard, and as Kolya gloated and the guards dragged his slack body back to the cells, he vowed to show them all exactly what that meant.

There was a reason his wasn't among that litany of the dead streaming through his mind. There was a reason he had managed to survive everything two galaxies had thrown at him when every person he'd ever known was dead and gone. There was a reason he was not a man with whom you screwed and lived to brag about it.

This was Jack's secret. The very thing he worked so hard to keep hidden from those he cared about. Every awkward joke, every smart-ass remark, every reckless sacrifice was just one more obstacle he placed between those around him and the man he was here and now. This wasn't Jack, the likable if slightly eccentric guy next door. This was Captain Sheppard, the guy they only called in when someone absolutely, positively had to be killed overnight.

The truth was he didn't particularly like Captain Sheppard. For all the good it had done her, his mother hadn't raised a soldier. He had a deep-seeded respect for the sanctity of all life that made the casual destruction of it his job encouraged all the more repellent. Growing up, when he'd dreamed of stepping through the Stargate it had been to explore new worlds. To meet new races and make new allies. But the universe he'd found on the other side of that silvery event horizon didn't see eye to eye with him when it came to peaceful coexistence, and when the choice came between his family and those trying to kill them it had been a remarkably easy one to make.

Unfortunately he couldn't afford to be that man anymore. He was no longer allowed the luxury of a normal life. Normal men didn't kill without blinking.

He'd often heard rumors of the darkness that haunted his father and wondered more than once if he'd inherited this burden from him, only to dismiss the notion upon further reflection. His mother could never have loved such a monster. This relentless drive to survive at any cost, to take the fight to the enemy with everything he had made him no better than the Wraith who had just finished feeding on him. Most days the only reason Jack could stand to face the man in the mirror was because he knew just how many people were counting on him - needed him, and while the man he'd become made him want to shut himself off from the universe, he knew he could never quit as long as that was the case.

General Mitchell had called it his 'kill switch'. When pushed too far beyond the breaking point he simply switched off. The world around him becoming black and white, inhabited by only two kinds of people - allies and targets. When it happened, you most certainly didn't want to find yourself in the latter category.

Suddenly the idea that these Genii soldiers were all that stood between him and an end to this hell seemed laughable. Jack had flown more than thirty-five combat sorties against the enemy. He'd led a squad during the counter-attack on Trevus and had been witness to the fall of the last Wraith Queen. During the Battle of New Hebrae` he'd managed to hold an entire division of Corethi soldiers at the Elgra Pass for six days with only fifteen men. He'd killed three Wraith in close quarters with only a combat knife. He had _great_ hair.

He was Jack. Fucking. Sheppard. "And I've had enough of this shit."

The guards shot the seemingly groggy man a confused look from their places at each of his arms when his heels planted firmly on the deck and brought them all to a halt.

Yanking his left arm free with a sharp jerk to the side Jack brought his elbow crashing into the throat of the other still clutching desperately at his right. Dropping quickly to a knee to avoid the butt of the third guard's rifle he was pleasantly surprised when Todd brought his metal-sleeved feeding hand crashing down into the back of the soldier's skull sending him sprawling to the floor in a tangle of limbs.

Spinning to face the last guard left standing Jack barely managed to dodge the stun-rod barreling for his head before charging forward while the Genii was still recovering from his swing. Deflecting the next blow with ease, he took more pleasure than he probably should in flattening the guy's nose. The momentum carried both men to the floor but along the way Sheppard never quit swinging. Absolutely irked beyond words at all of this he had decided to express his displeasure by pummeling the unfortunate bastard into unconsciousness with his bare hands. Jack acknowledged belatedly that it probably wasn't the healthiest impulse he'd ever embraced, but for the moment couldn't find it within him to give a shit.

Only when the pain in his knuckles became noticeable did Jack stumble backwards from the fallen guard, swiping bloody, shaky hands across his uniform jacket. His breath was still coming in shallow gasps and as hard as he tried he couldn't seem to slow it down to a more manageable tempo. Each hammering blow of his heart echoed in his ears, the sounds of his Wraith companion removing his shackles, the chains clanking to the floor, sounding miles away.

He was vaguely aware of retrieving the rifle and combat knife from the guard who'd tried to brain him, then turning his back while Todd had 'lunch'. The only thing that bothered him about that was how little it had actually bothered him. He decided to dwell on that when there weren't quite so many Genii nearby trying to kill him.

"You fight well for a human Sheppard." Looking far healthier than he had a few minutes before, Todd joined him near the doorway. Ignoring the Wraith Jack snagged one of the Genii radios, adjusting it to pick up the Lantian comm traffic he hoped would arrive sooner rather than later.

"If you're headed to the Gate you're hoofin' it alone." Sheppard didn't bother to look up as he tucked one of the Genii pistols into the back of his pants and set about gathering up all the ammo he could find.

Todd frowned at his back, "You do not intend to escape?"

"Didn't say that." Jack feared his smirk was coming off slightly more manic than he was intending, "I've just got some business to clear up before I can ride off into the sunset. Personal stuff. Kind of a family thing actually, which I'm guessing you'd find very difficult to understand. So if cutting through a dozen armed Genii to satisfy a human blood feud isn't penciled into your day planner I'd totally understand."

The Wraith weighed his options visibly for a long moment before nodding, "Do you have a plan?"

"Kill all the soldiers between us and Kolya. Kill Kolya." Jack shrugged, "Home in time for happy hour."

"That sounds simple," Todd commented wryly.

"Yeah," Casting a last glance over the scene to make sure he hadn't missed anything. Pulling on his jacket Sheppard grabbed the guard's keyring before ducking into the adjoining passage at a slow trot. "That's just one of it's many attributes. I'm partial to the 'killing Kolya' part myself but it's got something for everyone."

Taking up a position in an open doorway Jack motioned for his companion to take the corner while he covered him. They proceeded to leapfrog through the lower passages in this fashion, moving slowly upwards through the dank and winding tunnels.

* * *

Kolya stumbled over yet another raised tree root obscured by the thick blanket of dead folliage and mud covering the ground between the base and the Gate in what he'd decided to term a 'tactical withdraw'. He'd been planning this action for months, had convinced himself that he'd considered every contingency, every possible outcome, and he had been very mistaken.

There was apparently no predicting Colonel John Sheppard.

It occurred to him the whole situation was eerily reminiscent of his aborted seizure of Atlantis. They'd had no indication at all that the Colonel had escaped until teams started failing to report in. Acostus had lost two more squads before even confirming the prisoners were in fact not still in their cells. These men had all been personally selected by Kolya himself. He had trained most of them from raw recruits and had every confidence in their abilities. Thirty-two of the finest soldiers the Genii had ever produced stood between their Commander and a pair of wounded prisoners.

Then he was forced to stand by and watch as Sheppard killed them... one after another.

Through a feat of tactical genius or a more simply explained desire for revenge, he'd managed to from the outset do the completely unexpected at every turn. Kolya had been sure the prisoners would attempt to reach the Stargate. So sure in fact he'd sent nearly half his troops to guard it. In the end the action had only served to aid his adversary as he carved a bloody path through the complex beneath him.

Sheppard was a ghost. Where he tread men simply _disappeared_. A few spent shell casings and a smattering of blood told whispers of the deed, but his soldiers had yet to find a single body in their frantic search. Unfortunately, the generators were housed in a deep sub-basement and had been knocked out early in the battle. Kolya grunted at the word. Could one man against a small army really be considered a 'battle'? He supposed that depended on whether or not the one man was victorious.

An hour and a half and twelve men into the catastrophe Kolya finally relented to his lieutenants' advice and recalled the squads protecting the Gate, only for them to be ambushed by the renegade Wraith Sheppard had apparently allied himself with. Only two had escaped with their lives, the same two that were now on his flanks as they retreated headlong towards the only way for any of them to escape this planet alive.

They hadn't seen or heard from anyone since departing the complex and they were less than a kilometer away from the Gate itself. Kolya could feel the hair on the back of his neck rise to full attention. Considering the way the night had gone up until this point, this was just too easy.

A few steps further and there was a sharp crack of gunfire, both of the Commander's guards falling forward without a sound. _That's more like it..._

"You made a big mistake Kolya." Sheppard's voice echoed out from the trees, the tone eerily neutral. This wasn't the cocky pilot who he'd traded insults with in the past. This was the Sheppard he'd met after he'd claimed Dr. Weir was dead.

Stalling for time as he drew his pistol, eyes frantically searching the tree line for the slightest hint of movement. "What is that?"

A long silence settled over the clearing, the only sounds to be heard were the myriad insects, the nocturnal mammals who fed on them, and the rain driving relentlessly through the leaves around them. Walking backwards slowly from the direction he reckoned the sound had been coming from Acostus could feel every nerve in his body screaming for flight. An ancient an animal instinct was trying desperately to convince him there was a predator nearby.

"I'm not John Sheppard."

Spinning at the last moment his instincts were unfortunately confirmed as Sheppard stepped around the tree behind him, snatched his gun hand and slammed it viciously into the stump until the weapon bounced free to disappear in the decaying vegetation littering the forest floor. Before he could recover his balance a sharp jab to the chest sent him reeling backwards, slipping and sliding through the mud as he tumbled down the small hill behind him.

Anticipating an all out brawl Kolya was more than a little surprised when he made it back to his feet unmolested. The light rain was starting to pick up, heavy drops pelting the leaves around him in every direction and filling the forest with a veritable cacophony as he struggled to locate his adversary in the darkness. Icy fingers raced down his spine that was only peripherally caused by the frigged downpour. "Who the hell are you?"

Again the laugh that answered him seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, causing Kolya to spin slightly as he drew his knife from it's booth sheath and slipped into a combat stance. He would never stand a chance if he couldn't even manage to figure out his opponent's location. In hopes of tilting the scales a little bit further in his direction he growled out into the night, "Who are you?!"

"_This_ is who I am Kolya." The voice seemed to be carried by the wind, bouncing off everything in sight, amplified by the very rain itself. "Who they made me. John Sheppard was an explorer. A hero. A good guy. I'm only a good guy by virtue of the side I fight for. My methods tend to be more... unconventional."

"I know you're disappointed you didn't capture my father and you should be. If you'd captured him... you probably would have survived this."

"You're Sheppard's son?" Acostus frowned, lifting a hand in a vain effort to keep the driving rain out of his eyes.

"You're a speed bump Kolya." Jack shook his head from side to side as he emerged from the tree line, Genii assault rifle trained squarely on the other man's chest. His normally spiky hair matted down and dripping heavily as he emerged from the cover of the trees and into the downpour flooding the small clearing. The streaks of mud he'd used to black out his face and neck had sloughed off by the time he closed the distance between them, a limp noticably altering his gait, "I didn't come back for you."

Kolya squared off with his adversary, knife at the ready even as he spoke, "Then why are you here?"

"To deliver a message." Tossing the rifle to the side, Jack raised his hands to shoulder height with his palms outwards.

Stepping forward with the knife raised the older man smirked. He may not be John Sheppard, but he was a Sheppard nonetheless. He wouldn't take advantage of the 'unarmed' Commander. Kolya wasn't that noble. "All this for a message?"

"All this." Jack glowered, "Was because you tortured me."

The second the young soldier laid a single booted foot within range Kolya dove forward, blade slashing downward across his chest. Pivoting to the side Jack captured the man's wrist in an almost casual gesture, snapping it back in the other direction until the bones gave way and the blade dropped into his open palm. Releasing the now useless appendage he drove his forearm into Acostus' neck and slammed him back into the tree beside them. "_This_ is for trying to kill my mother."

Kolya never saw the blade that slipped in from under his ribs and pierced his heart. All he saw was the ice green eyes of the Ghost across from him before slipping off into the darkness.

Letting the body drop limply to the forest floor Jack nudged Kolya over onto his back and kneeled beside him. With a shaking hand he tore the Atlantis mission patch from the shoulder of his jacket and set it on the center of the dead man's chest, drawing a deep breath before driving Kolya's blade through the small circle of fabric, pinning it in place. His 'message' was clear.

Atlantis was still around and it wasn't about to give up without a fight. He knew his mother wouldn't appreciate the sentiment, but it would be effective.

Returning to his feet and swiping the dirt and blood from his hands, Jack retrieved his rifle and slung it over a shoulder. He hadn't expected his Wraith companion to return the life-force he'd stolen from him, but it sure had made things easier. Sheppard didn't want to contemplate how hard that would have been in his earlier state. He knew that Todd would be long gone before he arrived at the Stargate, but he'd done his part and he had the information he needed to contact Atlantis in the future. If things played out the same way they had in the previous time line, they wouldn't have to wait long.

The trek to the gate took less time than expected, the icy rain had let up and was now a refreshing mist as the circular form became visible from the tree line. It had been so thoughtful of that dead Genii guard to provide him with such a detailed map or he might never have found the place.

He was only a few steps shy of the DHD when five bright lights flashed around him before dissolving into the forms of a heavily armed combat team. _ 'Bout freaking time..._

Jack ran a tired eye over the men surrounding him, various expressions ranging from non-comprehension to total confusion before Jack could force a smile. "Afraid you guys missed the party."

John nodded slowly, running a critical eye over the scene. There were ten Genii bodies around the Gate, at least three of them had obvious been fed on by a Wraith. "Looks like it was a hell of a time."

"Yeah but the company was atrocious." Shaking his head the younger Sheppard tossed the Genii rifle off to a smirking Ronon Dex. "Good thing you guys showed up when you did. I wasn't sure how I was gonna get home without my garage door opener."

Rolling his eyes John activated his comm, "Sheppard to Caldwell. We've uh... we've got things pretty much in hand down here. Thanks for the help, but you can get on your way to Earth now. We'll dial out from here."

"Understood Sheppard, Caldwell out." The man sounded less than pleased with having been dragged out here just to find the battle had already ended. But it's better to be there and not needed than to be needed and not there.

"So..." John turned back to his son.

"I'll be more than happy to explain." Jack sighed, "Once we're home."

Nodding side to side his father smiled as the Gate sprang to life behind them, "Fair enough. Kolya?"

When the last word escaped his lips Jack had been walking past him towards the Gate. If he'd have blinked he would have missed it, but for just a moment he saw the mask the kid kept up at all times fall away. For the first time since he'd met the man he got the impression he was seeing the real him, not just what he wanted people to see.

As if in slow motion he turned his head a fraction to the side, a single eyebrow quirking up as a tightly controlled smirk pulled his mouth to one side. "He won't be making the debrief."

His son disappeared across the event horizon a split second later, and John could feel the breath torn from his chest follow after in a sharp gust. He knew that look...

For more than a month the Colonel had been racking his brain, looking into every clue with a dogged persistence that wasn't exactly his style. And he'd been greeted with failure at every turn. But here, now, standing among the bodies of nearly a dozen dead Genii... he'd finally met his son.

Beside him, Ronon slapped a meaty hand onto his friend's back. "Whats wrong with you? You should be happy Sheppard. Jack's fine."

"Yeah," John's eyes were still bugging out as he started forward towards the portal that would take him home, to _her_. "But I think I know who his mother is."

* * *

T.B.C

Sorry about the super long delay between updates but I have another story that's taken a lot of my attention. I intend to get back to regular updates on this one though so *fingers crossed* hopefully this shouldn't happen again.

As always I really appreciate your reviews so please leave one and let me know what you think.


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